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LOUIS ARMSTRONG STADIUM — For most of the past week, Taylor Townsend had owned the U.S. Open.

A point away from stretching that into the business end of her home Slam eight times, Townsend got so close in her attempt to knock off yet another Grand Slam champion and extend her rise into sporting and cultural stardom one more time. She fell in the cruelest way to Barbora Krejčíková, who kept her fingers on the edge of the cliff over and over and over to beat Townsend 1-6, 7-6(13) 6-4, cutting short her wild ride into the second week in New York.

“It just stings, because I literally gave everything,” Townsend said about an hour after the match that she was a point away from winning eight times.

She said she and her coach have a ritual after losses. She gets three minutes to sulk. She got plenty of hugs after this one and then allowed herself 10 minutes of sadness. Then her toddler son, who watched the three-hour marathon that included a roughly 25-minute tiebreak, asked her if he could work out with her in the cool-down area, and told her it was OK that she lost. In the shower, the world’s top-ranked doubles player was already thinking about when she would play her next singles match.

“I thought I had it,” she said, “but, you know, it’s a part of sports.”

For Townsend, this week was about more than sports.

Four days ago, Townsend closed out an emotional win over Jelena Ostapenko that ended with Ostapenko berating Townsend at the net. The Latvian told Townsend, who is Black, that she had “no class” and “no education,” because she didn’t apologize for a net cord that helped deliver her a point late in the first set. Ostapenko doubled down on her perception of Townsend’s ill-etiquette straight after the match, before apologizing three days later with a note that did not name or acknowledge the person she had slighted.

The moment thrust Townsend, the world No. 1 in doubles but rarely a factor in singles, into the national spotlight. And for more than three hours Sunday afternoon on Louis Armstrong Stadium, it seemed like she was going to be there for a while longer.

On Friday night on Arthur Ashe Stadium, she had blown past Mirra Andreeva, the 18-year-old world No. 5, in front of a raucous, late-night crowd that got to the young Russian and spurred Townsend to some of the best tennis of her life.

After a rowdy doubles win with her partner Kateřina Siniaková on Saturday, another version of that arrived in Louis Armstrong for the battle against Krejčíková, with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line.

Townsend had said Saturday evening that she believes in destiny. Her up-and-down tennis journey, from world No. 1 as a junior, to being denied a U.S. Open wild card by the USTA over her fitness, through injuries and then fighting her way up the doubles rankings and into a career in singles too, had led to this.

“I do believe that the timing is divine,” she said. “Everything is happening exactly the way that it’s supposed to. I truly believe there are never any accidents.”

A standing-room-only crowd of more than 14,000 packed the place, ready to throw a party for the latest American woman to surge to the fore in a year when there have been plenty of them.

She has had plenty of assignments on big stages and highlight-reel successes. She is doubles world No. 1 and a two-time Grand Slam champion, lifting the 2024 Wimbledon and 2025 Australian Open titles with Siniaková. Krejčíková, who is a two-time major champion in singles, partnered Siniaková to win seven Grand Slam doubles titles between 2013 and 2017. Both players have been at the very top of the sport, without necessarily getting the kudos and credit that comes with success outside of the singles mainstream.

And once Krejčíková stopped spraying errors as she had done for most of the opening set, the combination of two champions of doubles dueling in singles made for a captivating matchup of spins. angled volleys and topspin lobs, speckled with bursts of power strokes to the lines.

Early in the second set, it looked like Townsend would cruise into the final eight. She’d survived a nervy service game, then broke Krejčíková with a museum-quality backhand topspin lob for a 3-1 lead. The crowd exploded. This was happening.

But then Krejčíková steadied, and Townsend wobbled. Sometimes the hardest thing is knowing how close you are to something you want so badly. Townsend’s legs started to go, her serves lost velocity and Krejčíková drew even.

With the lead gone and the second set knotted midway through, Townsend loosened once more and stopped Krejčíková’s surge. A hard low slice got her to match point, but Krejčíková snuffed out the chance with a winner and and grabbed back the momentum, breaking Townsend for a chance to serve out the second set.

That woke up Townsend, and after she broke right back, Armstrong was singing “let’s go Taylor” at the top of its lungs. Onto the tiebreak they went.

Townsend wobbled first with a bad approach shot. Krejčíková wobbled next with two backhands into the net and Townsend surged to three more match points. Two were on Krejčíková’s serve, and the Czech saved both. The one she craved, on her own serve, was met with a vicious return onto Townsend’s toes.

Then came a fifth match point. Krejčíková nailed the outside of the sideline with a blazing forehand.

“I was just very, I mean, brave as well, but also lucky,” Krejčíková said. “If one point didn’t go my way, I would have been searching for flights.”

Barbora Krejčíková handled a febrile crowd en route to knocking the home favorite out of the U.S. Open. (Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

Then the ushers let the kids with the jumbo yellow tennis balls down courtside, the signal that the end is close. Krejčíková was having none of it, pushing onto the front foot and grabbing a set point chance that she put into the net. She got another on her own serve, but spun an inside-in forehand wide. Then she got another, and could not return a 63-mph serve.

A sixth match point for Townsend. She bounced on her toes behind the baseline. More ice-water from Krejčíková, knifing a backhand volley down the line. A seventh, again on Townsend’s serve. Another first serve didn’t find its mark, and this time Krejčíková flayed the second-serve return onto the sideline. Townsend could only stare at it. After changing ends at 12-12, Krejčíková chased down a short Townsend slice. Townsend, with all her years of experience on a doubles court, knew Krejčíková was unlikely to go down the line on a pressure point. She stepped to the center of the service boxes and blocked a volley into the open court for an eighth match point, which Krejčíková saved with a backhand that kissed the edge of the baseline.

Then she charged in after big return, garnered a short lob, and blasted the overhead into the crowd. The kids with big tennis balls headed back up the stairs.

There was another set to play. Townsend did well to keep it close in a situation where so many others would have crumbled. But Krejčíková kept her foot pressed to the gas pedal, showing off the smooth power and all-court prowess that made her a Wimbledon singles champion a year ago, and French Open singles champion three years before that.

Krejčíková got the service break in the sixth game. Townsend grabbed it back, in the next, setting everyone up for another roller coaster. But a point from 4-4, Krejčíková rocketed a backhand return off a first serve down the line, took the next two points, and nearly three hours after this ride started, she had her chance to serve it out.

Then it was match point for Krejčíková, and Townsend’s turn to hit out and stay alive. She did once. But on Krejčíková second chance, the Czech served and volleyed onto the back line. Townsend sent up a lob, and this time there were no miracle shots. She walked off, dabbing her eyes with a towel. She has a doubles match Monday. Life as a world No. 1 doesn’t stop.

“This was part of the plan,” she said. “We’ve still got a lot of tennis to play, and I’m still here for the doubles.

“You never know what type of catalyst or catapult this match could be to propel me forward. I truly believe that this was … This whole tournament has been a game-changer for me.”

(Top photo: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)