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09/11 17:07 CDT Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova win their first US Open women's doubles title together Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova win their first US Open women's doubles title together By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer NEW YORK (AP) --- Taylor Townsend was tight, not moving well and could sense she was off swinging her racket early in the U.S. Open women's doubles final. "I wanted this really badly, and I knew that I wanted it," she said. "I felt it in my body and my spirit because I was so nervous." Partner Katerina Siniakova talked her through the rough start Friday, and then they found their groove and rolled. Townsend and Siniakova completed their career Grand Slam as a team by defeating the wild card pair of Ashlyn Krueger and Robin Montgomery for their first U.S. Open doubles title together. "It just means the world to me," Townsend said. "This really means everything to me, not only just to be able to win the U.S. Open but to be able to complete a career Slam." It looked dicey early, when Townsend and Siniakova lost the first three games and dropped the first set. At one point, the ball dropped between them, an uncharacteristic mistake for the top two women's doubles players on the planet. Then the top seeds started looking like it with aggressive shots at the net, and they took control of the match on the way to a 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium. "The match was very tight, very tough for us, but we found a way to win it," Sinakova said. "We found a solution. I'm just really happy that we have this one, and we can celebrate it together." The result validated Townsend's confidence in her play after getting knocked out in singles by No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka. The 30-year-old American expressed confidence in her tennis at the time, knowing she still had another opportunity in doubles. That turned into her fourth major championship after she and Siniakova won Wimbledon in 2024, the Australian Open in 2025 and the French Open earlier this year. It was Siniakova's 12th Grand Slam title after winning seven with fellow Czech player Barbora Krejcikova and one with Coco Gauff. "It helps to have someone that's been here so many times and who has been able to get over the hump --- what is it, 12? Twelve times," Townsend said. It was an impressive run for Krueger and Montgomery, who respectively rank 570th and 610th in doubles and went through each half of defending champions Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski separately in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Krueger and Montgomery reunited five years after winning the U.S. Open girls' doubles title and advancing a round at the women's level in 2021. "We're both just trying to take it all in," Montgomery said. "What we've just done has been amazing. I think we did forget that we were offered a wild card, so I'm just glad we made good use of it." Townsend and Siniakova got retribution after falling short against Routliffe and Dabrowski in the final a year ago. Townsend dropped to her knees after the final point and was all smiles as she said to Siniakova that they finally did it. "If flipping the script had a face," Townsend said, "you'd see my face." A year after famously sipping the tournament's signature cocktail, the Honey Deuce, at the news conference after losing in the women's doubles final, Townsend had one in each hand this time. Carrying just one, Siniakova asked Townsend, "Next year, you have three and I have two?" --- setting the table for the duo to already start thinking about a repeat. ___ See AP's full tennis coverage here

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