Taylor Townsend of the United States attempts a comeback against Daniel Collins of the United States during the Cincinnati Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, on August 8, 2025. For the second straight year, an American has won the ATX Open as Peyton Stearns and Taylor Townsend each won their semifinals on Saturday in Austin, Texas, and will face off for the title on Sunday.
Fourth-seeded Stearns, an All-American and national singles champion who was part of two NCAA team titles at the University of Texas at Austin, advanced to her first singles final since 2024, when she won her lone title in Morocco, with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win over Australia’s Kimberly Birrell.
Meanwhile, Townsend advanced to her first WTA singles final after defeating fellow American Ashlyn Krueger 7-6(5), 6-3. Last year, Jessica Pegula beat McCartney Kessler 7-5, 6-2 in the final of the National ATX Open.
It took Stearns just over two hours, but he won his last five games to defeat Birrell and secure his third career finals berth. Stearns saved 5 of 10 break points while converting 7 of 10, including 2 of the final 3 of the game.
Townsend lost 12 of the first 15 points and fell behind 0-4 to Kruger in the first set before coming back from behind. Townsend won six of the next seven games, winning when Krueger served in the set. In the tie-break, Townsend saved a set point after missing a 5-1 lead in the tie-break.
Merida Open Akron
Spain’s Christina Bucsa defeated top seed Jasmine Piolini of Italy to set up a final against Poland’s Magdalena Frech, who defeated China’s Zhang Shuai in the other semifinal in Merida, Mexico.
In her first Top 10 win, Busca swept Piolini 7-5, 6-4 to advance to her first WTA 500 final. Busca beat the world No. 7 player in one hour and 33 minutes, despite having swept 10 of his previous matches against top-10 opponents. Busca didn’t lose a set this week, leading 5-2 in the first set and 4-0 in the second against Piolini.
In the other semifinal, Frech beat Zhang 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3 in a match that lasted two hours and 35 minutes to reach her third WTA singles final and second place at the WTA 500 level in Mexico. Frech had four match points in the second set, but Zhang forced a decisive third set.
Zhang almost doubled Frech’s total number of winners, but the Polish player was not to be denied. After his opponents traded breaks twice to start the third set, Frech won the last four games to secure a hard-fought victory.
–Field level media
