VIDEO: Taylor Townsend shown walking off Louis Armstrong in tears after squandering eight match points

It was an emotional end to Taylor Townsend's US Open campaign, with the American leaving the court in tears after squandering eight match points against Barbora Krejčíková to book her place in the quarter-finals.

The American reached the fourth round for the first time since the US Open back in 2019, and saw a great opportunity to progress to her first quarter-final against the former world number two, who has dropped down the rankings due to injury and poor form.

It started so well for Townsed, winning six games on the bounce to rush into a one set lead, breaking to love to secure the early advantage. The second set took over an hour longer than the first, with it going the distance. At 5-4, Townsend missed her first match point, unaware of the impact that would make later on. In the culminating tiebreak, Townsend failed to take seven match points, six of them due to the brilliance of the Czech. She also missed one of her own set points, but took the second opportunity to win the tiebreak 15-13, and more importantly, level the scoreline.

Krejčíková carried on this momentum into the third set, breaking to go 4-2 up. However, Townsend was not going out without a fight and broke back to put the tie back on serve. The two-time Grand Slam winner fought back with a third consecutive break, setting up a golden opportunity to serve for the match. Unlike her opponent, she took her second match point to send her through to her second US Open quarter-final, where she will play world number four Jessica Pegula.

For Townsend, it is an ultimately heartbreaking end to what had promised to be a spectacular night for the 29-year-old. She had eight chances to book her place in a maiden Grand Slam singles quarter-final, but left empty-handed. Raw emotion came out after the match finished, with Townsend in tears whilst strolling off the court. Michael Charles posted a video on X showing the upsetting scenes. He wrote: "An understandably emotional Taylor Townsend walks off the court in tears after her heartbreaking loss to Barbora Krejčíková. She had eight match points this afternoon…"

It is not all over yet for Townsend, who is still in the doubles event with partner Kateřina Siniaková. The pair are the number one seeds, with Townsend the number one in the world. They head into the event as one of the big contenders, with the pair having won two Grand Slams together in the last two years. They now target a first US Open title together, with Camilo Osorio and Yue Yuan their last-16 opponents.