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Friday 30 august 2019
Surprise! 23-year-old Townsend of U.S. upsets Halep at Open

By HOWARD FENDRICH Caty McNally, 17, pushed
AP Tennis Writer Serena Williams to three
NEW YORK (AP) — The pure, sets Wednesday. Sofia
raw emotion from Taylor Kenin, 20, beat Williams at
Townsend came through the French Open and is into
after she delivered one the third round in New York.
last crisp forehand volley At Roland Garros, Amanda
to complete her U.S. Open Anisimova, 17, became the
upset of two-time major first player born in the 2000s
champion Simona Halep, to reach a Grand Slam
then clenched her fists, semifinal. And there are
raised her arms and yelled, 2017 U.S. Open champion
"Yes! Yes!" before patting Sloane Stephens, 26, and
her heart. runner-up Madison Keys,
And there it was again, 24.
moments later, when "I give all the credit to the
Townsend's voice cracked players, because it's a
and tears began to flow healthy competition," said
as she told the Arthur Ashe U.S. Fed Cup captain and
Stadium crowd, "I mean, head of women's tennis
this means a lot. It's been a Kathy Rinaldi. "They're all
long journey. Just haven't pushing each other on and
been able to get over the off the court. And so it's re-
hump." Taylor Townsend, of the United States, reacts after defeating Simona Halep, of Romania, during the ally fun to watch. But in the
Make way for another second round of the US Open tennis championships Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, in New York. meantime, I think they're
young American woman Associated Press very supportive of one an-
making Grand Slam waves. other as well."
Townsend, a 23-year-old self at 6-5. I played to win." san Lajovic, and unseeded Osaka moved on earlier
qualifier ranked 116th, Townsend was marked for How did she do it? Briton Daniel Evans' 6-4, 6-3, Thursday with a couple of
pulled off the biggest vic- greatness long ago: She By moving forward at ev- 6-7 (4), 6-4 defeat of No. 25 famous fans in her court-
tory over her up-and-down was the singles and dou- ery opportunity, something Lucas Pouille. side guest seats: Colin Kae-
career with an entertain- bles junior champion at so rarely seen these days Three-time U.S. Open pernick and Kobe Bryant.
ing, net-rushing, serve-and- the 2012 Australian Open, on tour. She won the point champion Rafael Nadal The No. 1 seed beat Mag-
volleying brand of lefty turned pro later that year on 64 of her 106 trips to the reached the third round da Linette 6-2, 6-4.
tennis Thursday, surprising at age 16, then cracked net; Halep went 6 for 10. when his opponent, Thana- Kaepernick, the former
former No. 1 Halep 2-6, 6-3, the top 100 in the rankings And Townsend serve-and- si Kokkinakis, withdrew with San Francisco 49ers quar-
7-6 (4) in the second round while still a teenager. But volleyed 61 times, Halep an injured right shoulder. terback who three years
at Flushing Meadows. there have been plenty of once. Townsend now will try to ago began kneeling during
"I just told myself this is an ups and downs since, in- It was an attention-grab- get to the fourth round at the national anthem at his
opportunity," Townsend cluding a drop out of the bing result on a busy day a Slam for the first time. For team's games, has been
said. "It's a chance, and WTA's top 300, a 9-16 re- at the year's last major tour- all that time various folks working out in the New York
you have nothing to lose." cord at Grand Slam tour- nament, with all but nine spent fretting about how area in hopes of getting
She was able to put aside naments and an 0-10 mark of Wednesday's sched- U.S. women's tennis will do another shot in the NFL. Bry-
the early deficit of a set. against top-10 foes. uled singles matches car- once the Williams sisters ant, the retired NBA super-
And get over that she wast- In sum, Townsend never let ried over because of rain. move on, the group looks star, came to the U.S. Open
ed a pair of match points, up and never gave up — The weather was just right to be in pretty good shape to promote a new book.
one via double-fault, while on Thursday, even though Thursday, and so result af- at the moment. Osaka said this was the first
serving for the win at 5-4 in she knew full well she lost all ter result poured in, includ- Later Thursday, 15-year-old time she'd met Kaepernick;
the third. And steady her- six sets the two women had ing Andrea Petkovic's 6-4, Coco Gauff, who grabbed she shares a sponsor with
self nearly 15 minutes lat- contested previously. 6-4 elimination of two-time a ton of attention by reach- Bryant. "It's just funny to me,"
er, when Halep, who won "When I've played her Wimbledon champion Pe- ing Wimbledon's fourth Osaka said. "You know, like,
Wimbledon in July and was before, I was just try- tra Kvitova and, among round, was supposed to last year compared to this
seeded No. 4 at the U.S. ing to make balls (in). I the men, unseeded Ameri- play for a shot to face de- year, there is no way, like,
Open, was a single point think I played not to lose," can Denis Kudla's 7-5, 7-5, fending champion Naomi Kobe would sit in my box.
from winning this thing her- Townsend said. "And today 0-6, 6-3 win over No. 27 Du- Osaka next in New York. Yeah, Kaepernick, too."q

Bush saves penalty, Impact rally

to beat Whitecaps 2-1

MONTREAL (AP) — Evan game winless skid in MLS Both Vancouver and Mon-
Bush made six saves, in- and moved into seventh in treal have five games re-
cluding one from the pen- the Eastern Conference. maining in the regular sea-
alty spot, and the Montreal Yordy Reyna scored and son. Bush stopped Reyna
Impact rallied to beat the missed a penalty for the on a penalty that ended
Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 last-place Whitecaps (6-14- up being re-kicked after
Montreal Impact midfielder Lassi Lappalainen, right, deflects a on Wednesday night. 9), who were all but elimi- Bush and Tosaint Ricketts
kick from Vancouver Whitecaps' Tosaint Ricketts during the sec- Maximiliano Urruti scored nated from playoff con- were guilty of encroach-
ond half of an MLS soccer match Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2019, in and Montreal (11-14-4) got tention. Maxime Crepeau ment. Reyna re-took the
Montreal. an own goal from Vancou- made eight saves against penalty and Bush shut the
Associated Press
ver as it snapped a four- his old club. door a second time.q