Peyton Stearns and Taylor Townsend advanced to the final of the ATX Open after winning their semifinals on Saturday. Stearns defeated Kimberly Birrell 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, while Townsend overcame Ashlyn Krueger 7-6(5), 6-3. This sets up an all-American championship match for the second straight year at the WTA 250 event.
The semifinals of the ATX Open in Austin delivered two hard-fought victories, ensuring an American champion for the second consecutive year. No. 4 seed Peyton Stearns, a University of Texas alum and hometown favorite, outlasted Australia's Kimberly Birrell in a 2-hour, 8-minute match. Stearns won the first set 6-3, dropped the second 3-6, and then took the decider 6-2 by capturing the last five games. This marks her third WTA final and first since 2024, following a grueling quarterfinal win over Oksana Selekhmeteva that left her not feeling 100 percent.
In the other semifinal, wild card Taylor Townsend reached her first tour-level singles final after 13 years on the circuit. The former doubles World No. 1 defeated fellow American Ashlyn Krueger 7-6(5), 6-3 in 1 hour and 49 minutes. Townsend trailed 0-4 in the first set, losing 12 of the first 15 points, but rallied to break when Krueger served for the set at 5-4 and saved a set point in the tiebreak. She converted her earlier comeback against Rebeka Masarova in the quarterfinals, where her 5-year-old son watched from the stands.
"Today was actually a really really tough day for me," Townsend said post-match. "It was really emotional because I had to send my son back home so this morning there was a lot of water works on both sides." She added, "I came out a little bit nervous. Things weren’t clicking, Ashlyn was playing really well. This feels so so good."
Stearns leads the overall head-to-head against Townsend after a qualifying win in Cincinnati four years ago, but Townsend won their only prior meeting 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Last year, Jessica Pegula claimed the title by beating McCartney Kessler. Stearns noted it would be fitting for a Longhorn to win the tournament.