American Taylor Townsend made the most of a spot in prime time at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday night, stunning fifth-seeded Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-2 to reach the fourth round of the US Open for the first time since 2019.

Going into this Grand Slam tournament, Townsend had nowhere near the star power or the name recognition of fellow Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula , and she is not even seeded in singles play. Yet the 29-year-old who is half of the top-ranked women's doubles team in the world and was No. 1 as a junior player has become one of the biggest stories of the tournament after her post-match argument with Jelena Ostapenko and the subsequent discourse surrounding it.

"It's bigger than me," she said on the court after the match. "It's about the message, it's about

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