Taylor Townsend battles into first WTA singles semifinal of career in Austin

There isn’t a lot that Taylor Townsend hasn’t achieved in doubles, but today she’s broken new ground in singles.

The American is through to the first WTA singles semifinal of her career after battling back from a set down to defeat Rebeka Masarova, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the WTA 250 hard-court event in Austin, Texas.

Townsend had reached two WTA singles quarterfinals previously but was stopped in close two-setters both times, in Toronto in 2024 (falling to Emma Navarro) and in Washington D.C. in 2025 (falling to Leylah Fernandez).

Early on it didn’t look like Townsend would need to battle back from anything, as she stormed out to a 5-2 lead against Masarova—but the 6’ 1” Swiss stormed back, winning five games in a row to sneak out the first set.

But Townsend went on lockdown mode from there, never dropping serve again—fighting off all five break points she faced in the second and third sets—and breaking Masarova twice per set to eventually close out the victory after two hours and 20 minutes on court.

She then went and embraced her four-year-old son, Adyn, who was watching his mom from the stands.

Townsend’s doubles resume is extensive—she has 11 career WTA doubles titles to her name, the biggest of which being two Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon in 2024 and the Australian Open in 2025, as well as a pair of WTA 1000 titles at Cincinnati in 2023 and Dubai in 2025.

Last summer she rose to No. 1, becoming the first mom to reach the top spot in WTA doubles rankings history.

In total, Townsend has been to the semifinals or better 31 times at tour-level events in doubles—11 titles, eight more finals and another 12 semifinals, which includes reaching the semifinals in Austin this week with Storm Hunter.

And now, her very first tour-level semifinal in singles.

Awaiting her in the semifinals on Saturday will be either Ashlyn Krueger or Yuan Yue, who played each other in the last quarterfinal of the day on Friday.