Dreams died by fractions of an inch and were reborn through sheer determination on a pulsating Sunday at the US Open, with Taylor Townsend's heartbreaking exit contrasting sharply with Taylor Fritz's steady march onward, Reuters reported.
Townsend's three-hour odyssey against Barbora Krejcikova provided the day's most compelling drama, the mother from Chicago saving eight match points before finally succumbing 1-6 7-6(13) 6-3 in a thriller that left even her four-year-old son AJ offering gentle consolation.
"It was literally like a point here and there that made the difference," said Townsend, tears still fresh after the longest tiebreak of the tournament. "The backhand down the line on the match point where it barely clipped the line, what do you do in those moments?"
The 29-year-old's anguish provided a stark contrast to Fritz's businesslike 6-4 6-3 6-3 dismissal of Czech Tomas Machac, to fly the American flag as the country's sole male survivor from the 23 who began the tournament, according to Reuters.
