Taylor Townsend’s second-round victory over compatriot Jessica Pegula amazed Andre Agassi’s former coach turned tennis analyst Brad Gilbert. The 168th-ranked player emerged triumphant over the World No. 3 in a grueling three-setter 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Taylor Townsend secured the second top-10 win of her career by upsetting Pegula in their all-American second-round clash at the 2023 Italian Open. The 27-year-old’s only other top-10 victory came against then-World No. 4 Simona Halep in the 2019 US Open second round.
Townsend trailed 0-2 in the first set against Pegula; however, she won seven consecutive games to take the first set 6-2 and lead 1-0 in the second. Pegula mounted a comeback to level the match and force a third set by taking the second 6-3. The 27-year-old then secured an early break in the third to go up 3-0 and won the set 6-3, in a match that lasted 1 hour and 55 minutes.
ESPN tennis analyst Brad Gilbert was impressed by Townsend’s victory. He voiced his amazement on social media.
“Just seeing live scores wow (star-eyed emoji) what a win for Taylor Townsend taking out Jpeg (Jessica Pegula), interesting she now has 3-1 H2H,” he tweeted.
Taylor Townsend now leads the head-to-head against Jessica Pegula by 3-1. The defeat in Rome was Pegula’s first opening match loss at any event since the 2021 BNP Paribas Open.
Townsend, who is making her Rome debut, will face China’s Wang Xiyu in the third round on Saturday, May 13. This is only the second time she has reached the third round at a WTA 1000 event.
Taylor Townsend hit a career milestone on Monday as she broke into the top 10 of the women’s doubles rankings by reaching World No. 6. Townsend was ecstatic about her achievement, specially considering her difficult journey to that milestone.
“I was in tears, because I thought about the journey of what it took to get here and I was like, ‘Holy You-Know-What!’” she told Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj.
“I saw [the new rankings] and I was like, ‘Oh my god I’m so excited! Woohoo, go Taylor!’ And then I made a Reel, and I was literally bawling, crying,” she added.
Townsend returned to the WTA tour in April 2022 after giving birth to her son, Adyn Aubrey Johnson, in March 2021. Due to her long break from tennis, the American was unranked in the WTA singles ranking.
Townsend and her doubles partner Leylah Fernandez reached the 2023 Madrid Open semifinals, which resulted in her career-high doubles ranking.
The American is having a great debut at the 2023 Italian Open with four victories in a row (including qualifiers) and an upset against compatriot Jessica Pegula.
