Home Style: Stearns Tops Townsend, Wins Austin
By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, March 1, 2026
Photo credit: ATX Open Facebook
Former gymnast Peyton Stearns navigated a demanding degree of difficult to land a homecoming crown.
Stearns saved three set points in the first set topping Taylor Townsend 7-6(8), 7-5 in tody’s all-American Austin final to capture her second title and first hard-court championship at the ATX Open.
Four years ago, Stearns made history as the first University of Texas player to win the NCAA singles championship.
Today, Stearns celebrated a triumphant title run a short distance from the 40 Acres Campus flashing the Longhorns sign to an appreciative Austin crowd. Stearns served eight aces and converted four of six break-point chances, including the crucial break for a 6-5 second-set lead.
Contesting her third final, Stearns won her first title since 2024 Rabat on red clay and sent a shout out to Longhorns nation afterward.
“It’s nice for a Longhorn to finally win this tournament, yeah it’s kind of nice,” Stearns said. “I want to congratulate Taylor. It’s not over. She’s got doubles [final] so hopefully you can stick around and watch her, she’s been awesome.”
This was the first all-American WTA singles final since WTA 1000 Wuhan last October when Coco Gauff beat Jessica Pegula to take the title.
Playing her first career WTA singles final, wild card Townsend made immediate impact.
It started with Townsend breaking to open after a seven-minute game and backing up the break for a 2-0 lead.
Settling in on serve, Stearns pumped an ace wide capping her strongest serve hold for 2-3.
The left-handed Townsend tormented the Stearns’ two handed return, whipping the wide serve at the outset. Changing that pattern, Townsend slid an ace down the T holding at love to extend to 4-1. By then, Townsend had won nine of 10 first-serve points.
The fourth-seeded Stearns answered, issuing her second straight love hold for 3-4 after 36 minutes of play.
Serving at 3-5, Stearns denied two set points—the first with a body serve and second when Townsend missed a backhand wide trying to find the Texan’s backhand—before closing a tricky hold with an ace and serve winner wide.
As Townsend stepped up to serve for the first set, the wind picked up and she tightened up considerably. For the first time all day, Townsend lost the opening point of a serve game, sailed two forehands then double faulted to face triple break point. Pulling out the serve-and-volley, Townsend botched a routine volley, gift-wrapping a love break to Stearns.
From set point down, Stearns reeled off eight straight points and pounded down another ace holding for her first lead of the final at 6-5.
Commanding the court at the start of the tiebreaker, Stearns smacked two aces and a couple of forehand strikes earning three set points at 6-3.
Then, things got really wild.
Townsend saved the first set point with a serve down the T. On the second set point, Stearns had her opponent scrambling completely off the court and swooped in for an easy forehand only to slap it into net. Townsend erased the third set point with a forehand down the line. On the fourth set point, Stearns was in prime position at net, but could not cope with a low pass and netted her forehand volley.
Winning a 14-shot rally gave Townsend a third set point at 8-7. Credit a gutsy Stearns for going all in on a massive forehand that stung the baseline to save it. Townsend missed successive forehands as Stearns finally closed a dramatic 73-minute opening set.
Energized by winning that tough opening set, Stearns showed urgency with her footwork, often dancing around the backhand to fire her favored forehand.
Townsend sent a drive deep then bungled a high volley wide as Stearns broke for a 3-2 second-set lead with a firm “come on!”
The Stearns forehand, her most formidable shot, did not hold up as she tried to confirm the break. Townsend coaxed a couple of errors to break right back in the sixth game.
Spreading the court with a series of line to line forehands, Stearns switched it up playing a shorter, lower backhand to draw a netted response and break at 15 for 4-3.
The longest game of the match followed with Townsend fighting off game points before cracking a menacing crosscourt return to end a 19-point marathon game and break to level after eight games.
Eyes riveted on the ball, Stearns smacked her forehand with ambition firing a forehand down the line for break point in the 11th game. When Townsend netted a backhand, Stearns scored her fourth break of the final for 6-5.
A calm Stearns earned double championship point when Townsend whacked a wild wide forehand down the line. Stearns drew one final forehand miss to seal her second Tour-level title in two hours, 22 minutes.
Post Comment