MELBOURNE, Australia — Taylor Townsend, all of 15 years old, wasn’t intimidated by playing the most important match of her young tennis career at 15,000-seat Rod Laver Arena on Saturday.
In fact, she took a souvenir so she could remember the experience.
“I was actually surprised that I saw four towels, like two towels on one seat, two towels on the other,” she said. “I was like, ‘Whoa, I’m gonna snag these.’ That’s exactly what I did.”
Townsend, a native of Stockbridge, Ga., took home a couple of trophies as well.
She defeated Yulia Putintseva of Russia 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Saturday to win the girls singles event at the Australian Open, a day after she and partner Gabrielle Andrews of Pomona, Calif., won the girls doubles title.
When she closed out her singles victory, Townsend burst into tears on court.
“Tears of joy,” she said afterward. “It’s a dream come true for me, you know. A lot of people were supporting me, and my family and everything are just so proud. The feelings kind of rushed in.”
Footnotes
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek denied Bob and Mike Bryan their record 12th Grand Slam doubles title, beating the American twins 7-6 (1), 6-2 in the final. The 33-year-old Bryans were attempting to secure their place as the most decorated doubles team since the Open Era began in 1968. They remain tied with the Australian duo of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge.
• Luke Saville, a 17-year-old Australian, lived up to his No. 1 junior ranking and defeated Canadian Filip Peliwo 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 to win the boys singles title.
