Taylor Townsend Reaches Australian Open Girls’ Singles Final, Wins Girls’ Doubles Title

Written by: Staff on 27th January 2012

Taylor Townsend Reaches Australian Open Girls’ Singles Final, Wins Girls’ Doubles Title |

(Courtesy of the USTA)

Taylor Townsend, a 15-year-old from Stockbridge, Ga., beat fellow American Krista Hardebeck of Santa Ana, Calif., 7-6(3), 6-4, on Friday to reach the girls’ singles final at the Australian Open. She then partnered with 15-year-old Gabrielle Andrews of Pomona, Calif., to win the girls’ doubles title, beating top seeds Irina Khromacheva of Russia and Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 5-7, 7-5, [10-6], in Friday’s final.

Townsend, seeded No. 14, will face No. 4 seed Yulia Putintseva of Russia in the singles final. Putintseva beat Townsend 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, in the semifinals of the 2011 Eddie Herr in their only previous matchup. The girls’ singles final between Townsend and Putintseva is Saturday’s first match in Rod Laver Arena (9:00 p.m. ET on Friday). The match will be streamed live at AustralianOpen.com.

Townsend is the top-ranked player in the USTA Girls’ 18s National Standings, and trains full-time at the USTA Training Center Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla. She becomes the second consecutive Georgia native to reach the girls’ singles final at a Grand Slam event, after Grace Min of Norcross, Ga., captured the 2011 US Open girls’ singles title (Min also trains full-time at the USTA Training Center Headquarters in Boca Raton).

The last American to sweep the junior singles and doubles titles at a Grand Slam event was Lindsay Davenport, who won both girls’ titles at the 1992 US Open. No American has ever accomplished the feat of winning sweeping the junior singles and doubles titles at a Grand Slam event outside the U.S.