Looking to reach the quarterfinals of a singles Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career, Taylor Townsend fell just short.
The 29-year-old American lost her way in a 6-1, 6-7 (13), 3-6 loss to Barbora Krejcikova on Sunday evening, blowing a one-set lead and eight match points inside a jam-packed Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Krejcikova now will face another American in Jessica Pegula on Tuesday.
After a viral postmatch exchange with second-round opponent Jelena Ostapenko, in which the Latvian hurled vile insults across the net, Townsend quickly became the player of the tournament.
She’s had the U.S. Open crowd behind her in a different way than the American players usually do, and Sunday was no different.
The class she displayed earned her many new supporters, who had nearly every single seat filled in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
And, boy, did they get a show.
Townsend needed just 28 minutes to take the first set, in which the World No. 139 hit 93 percent of her first serves in.
There was zero doubt in her play at first, but it steadily crept in as the second set progressed.
It wasn’t until the first game of the second set that Townsend committed her first double fault of the match.
There was much more pushback from Krejcikova in the second set, but it came down to the very end.
As “here we go, Taylor” chants and claps soared out of the open roof of Louis Armstrong, Krejcikova broke Townsend to go up 6-5.
But Townsend responded with a break of her own to force a tiebreaker, in which Krejcikova saved seven match points — including three in a row — before taking the set.
It was clear Townsend started to run out of gas in the third set.
The fire had subsided and the execution wavered.
Krejcikova jumped out to a 4-2 lead before Townsend broke her in the seventh game, which led to Townsend letting out an emphatic yell in celebration.
Capitalizing on her third breakpoint, Krejcikova took a 5-3 advantage and grinded out the final game to victory.