For the second consecutive year, an American will win the ATX Open, as Peyton Stearns and Taylor Townsend won their respective semifinal matches Saturday in Austin, Texas, and will face off Sunday for the title.
The fourth-seeded Stearns, who was an All-American and national singles champion and part of two NCAA team titles at the University of Texas in Austin, went the distance in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Australia’s Kimberly Birrell to reach her first singles final since 2024, when she won her lone title in Morocco.
Townsend, meanwhile, swept fellow American Ashlyn Krueger 7-6 (5), 6-3 to advance to the first singles final of her WTA career. Last year, Jessica Pegula took down McCartney Kessler 7-5, 6-2 in an all-American ATX Open final.
It took Stearns just over two hours, but she finally put away Birrell by winning the match’s last five games to secure a spot in her third career final. Stearns saved 5 of 10 break points while converting 7 of 10, including two of the last three of the match.
Townsend lost 12 of the first 15 points and trailed Kreuger 0-4 in the first set before turning the tables. Townsend won six of the next seven games, breaking Krueger when she was serving for the set. In the tiebreak, Townsend saved set point after letting a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak slip away.
Merida Open Akron
Spain’s Cristina Bucsa upset top-seeded Jasmine Piolini of Italy to set up a final against Poland’s Magdalena Frech, who took down China’s Zhang Shuai in the other semifinal at Merida, Mexico.
In her first career Top 10 win, Busca swept Piolini 7-5, 6-4 to reach her first WTA 500 final. Busca had been swept in all 10 of her previous matches against Top 10 opponents, but she defeated the World No. 7 player in 1 hour, 33 minutes. Busca hasn’t lost a set this week, taking leads of 5-2 in the first set and 4-0 in the second against Piolini en route to the upset.
In the other semifinal, Frech outlasted Zhang 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 in a two-hour, 35-minute match, to reach her third WTA singles final and second at WTA 500 level in Mexico. Frech had four match points in the second set, but Zhang prevailed to force a decisive third set.
Zhang nearly doubled Frech’s total of winners, but the Polish player would not be denied. After the opponents twice traded breaks to open the third set, Frech won the last four games to secure the hard-fought victory.
