Taylor Townsend advanced to her first WTA singles final by defeating Ashlyn Krueger in straight sets at the ATX Open. The American, who parted ways with longtime coach John Williams in December 2025, has been on a breakthrough run in singles after dominating doubles. She first overcame Rebeka Masarova in the quarterfinals to reach her career-first semifinal.
Taylor Townsend's journey at the WTA 250 event in Austin, Texas, marked a milestone in her singles career. In the quarterfinals on February 28, 2026, she battled back from a set down to defeat Rebeka Masarova 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 after two hours and 20 minutes. Townsend started strongly, leading 5-2 in the first set, but Masarova, a 6'1" Swiss player, won five straight games to take it. Townsend then held serve throughout the final two sets, saving all five break points faced and breaking Masarova twice in each to secure the win. After match point, she embraced her four-year-old son, Adyn, in the stands.
Reflecting on the victory, Townsend said, “It means a lot to me, especially to be able to fight in between the ears. That’s never easy. I’ve had a ton of matches in that way and in that fashion where it’s just been all in my head, and I haven’t been able to get through that, or sometimes I have, but this was just different. It just felt different.” This was her first WTA singles semifinal, following previous quarterfinal losses in Toronto in 2024 to Emma Navarro and in Washington, D.C., in 2025 to Leylah Fernandez.
In the semifinals, Townsend faced fellow American Ashlyn Krueger, trailing 4-0 in the first set before winning in straight sets to reach her first tour-level singles final in her 13th year on the WTA Tour. Without a full-time coach since splitting from John Williams—who had guided her since 2021 to two Grand Slam doubles titles (Wimbledon 2024 and Australian Open 2025 with Kateřina Siniaková) and the world No. 1 doubles ranking as the first mother to achieve it—Townsend joked that her son Adyn was serving as her coach. She quipped, “Having a four-year-old as my coach, I think, is working pretty well so far. ‘Thanks coach AJ!’ ... he just said at 4 just hit it where she’s not.”
On the coaching split, Townsend described it as “an unfortunate situation” but declined to disclose details, stating, “I’m not really ready to disclose the details as to exactly what happened. I will, when I’m ready, but right now, I don’t really feel like that’s something I need to talk about, especially while I’m competing.” Their partnership had also led to her deepest singles Grand Slam run, the round of 16 at the 2025 US Open.