Townsend wins first pro title in three years - and first as a mum
Former world No. 61 Taylor Townsend won her first professional singles title in three years in style on the ITF World Tennis Tour, winning just her third competitive tournament since the birth of her first child.
The 26-year-old American defeated Wang Xiyu 6-3 6-2 to win W100 Charleston – the scene of her last professional triumph in May 2019 – to claim the 11th ITF singles crown of her career just 14 months after giving birth to her son, Adyn.
Townsend, who made her return to professional tennis with back-to-back quarter-final appearances at W100 Palm Harbor and W60 Charlottesville in April, made a rapid return to the title winner’s circle after seeing off Canadian Francoise Abanda and Americans Louisa Chirico, Katie Volynets and Whitney Osuigwe before avenging her Charleston loss to Wang in the final.
Ok @TaylorTownsend already back winning 🏆 let’s go 👏🏼 first pro title as a mama!!
— Jessie Pegula (@JLPegula) May 1, 2022
A prolific junior talent, Townsend was named ITF Junior World Champion in 2012 following a year that saw her win the girls’ singles and doubles title at the Australian Open, the girls’ doubles crowns at both Wimbledon and the US Open, and the 2012 Junior Billie Jean King Cup title (then known as Fed Cup).
The lefthander reached as high as No. 61 in the women’s rankings after a second round appearance at Wimbledon in 2018, and achieved a run to the fourth round at the US Open in 2019 after upsetting world No. 4 Simona Halep in the second round.
Townsend has achieved significant results in doubles too - winning 17 doubles titles at ITF level, three at WTA level, and reached the semi-finals at the US Open in both doubles (with Asia Muhammad in 2020) and mixed doubles (with Donald Young in 2014).
There were also significant wins on the ITF World Tennis Tour over the weekend for German Jule Niemeier and 18-year-old Diana Shnaider, who won the biggest titles of their fledgling careers at W60 Zagreb and W60 Istanbul, respectively.
Niemeier, 22, overcame Hungary’s Reka Luca Jani 6-2 6-2 for her fourth ITF singles crown and first above W25 level, while former junior world No. 2 Shnaider defeated 16-year-old Nikola Bartunkova 7-5 7-5 in the talented Czech’s first appearance in a W60 final.
Click here for all the weekend’s results on the ITF World Tennis Tour