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Taylor Townsend, With Thrilling Charges, Ousts Simona Halep From the U.S. Open

Robert Deutsch/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

A long wait ended for Taylor Townsend on Thursday afternoon, thanks to a game plan from an era considered long gone.

Attacking with serve-and-volley as well as chip-and-charge, the 116th-ranked Townsend flummoxed the reigning Wimbledon champion, Simona Halep, in the second round of the United States Open and finished with a tight 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory.

Townsend, 23, charged the net fearlessly, particularly in the third set, when she came forward 64 times, and her bold gambits thrilled the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Halep, seeded fourth, had beaten Townsend in all three previous meetings, but she had never encountered a game like the one she faced on Thursday.