By Richard Pagliaro Sunday, March 1, 2026
Photo credit: ATX Open Facebook
former gymnast Payton Stearns Overcame daunting odds to earn the homecoming crown.
Stearns saved three set points in the first set Taylor Townsend In today’s National Austin final, she won her second championship title with a score of 7-6(8), 7-5, and her first hard court championship at the ATX Open.
Four years ago, Stearns made history as the first University of Texas player to win an NCAA singles title.
Today, Stearns celebrated the victory near the 40-acre campus and showed off the Longhorns’ logo to an appreciative Austin crowd. Stearns fired eight aces and successfully saved 4 of 6 break points, including a key break to lead 6-5 in the second set.
Stearns, playing in his third final, gave the Longhorns a shout-out after winning his first title since the 2024 Rabat clay-court tournament.
“It’s great for the Longhorns to finally win this game, yeah, it’s kind of nice,” Stearns said. “I want to congratulate Taylor. It’s not over yet. She got the double [final] So I hope you can stay and watch her, she’s amazing. “
This is the first national WTA singles final held since Coco Gauff defeated Jessica Pegula to win the WTA 1000 Wuhan competition last October.
Townsend, who holds a wild card, made an immediate impact in his first career WTA singles final.
Seven minutes into the game, Townsend scored first and led 2-0.
Stearns stabilized her serve and hit an ace to seal her strongest serve at 2-3.
The left-hander Townsend tormented both Stearns’ receivers, sending his serve wide early on. Townsend changed the situation, hitting an ace in the T zone to extend the lead to 4-1. By then, Townsend had won nine of 10 first-serve points.
Fourth-seeded Stearns responded by holding on for the second time in a row to level the score at 3-4 after 36 minutes of play.
Serving for a 3-5 lead, Stearns denied two set points – the first on a body serve, the second when Townsend tried to find the Texan’s backhand but missed it out of bounds – then capped off a tricky hold with an ace and service winner.
As Townsend took the stage to serve for the first set, the wind picked up and her body tensed visibly. Townsend lost an opening point on serve for the first time all day, serving twice on his forehand before double faulting and facing three breaks. Townsend botched a routine volley on a serve-volley, giving Stearns a love break.
After falling behind on set point, Stearns scored eight points in a row and added another ace to lead the finals for the first time, 6-5.
At the beginning of the deciding game, Stearns hit two aces and several forehands, winning three set points 6-3.
Then, things got really crazy.
Townsend saved the first set point by serving on the T stage. On the second set point, Stearns allowed his opponent to crawl completely off the court and pounced on an easy forehand, only to find the ball in the net. Townsend erased the third set point with a baseline forehand. On the fourth set point, Stearns was in the best position in front of the net, but couldn’t handle the low pass and hit a forehand volley into the net.
Townsend won the 14-shot duel, taking the third set point 8-7. A brave Stearns gave it his all and saved the match with a huge forehand to the baseline. Townsend missed consecutive forehands and Stearns finally ended a dramatic 73-minute first set.
After winning that tough first set, Stearns was energized and showed urgency in her steps, often dancing around her backhand to hit her favored forehand.
Townsend hit a long pass, followed by a high volley that missed, and Stearns shouted firmly “Come on!” to lead 3-2 in the second set.
Stearns’ forehand, her most powerful shot, didn’t hold as she tried to confirm the break. Townsend managed to break serve through several errors in the sixth game.
Stearns stretched the court with a series of line-to-line forehands, but he responded with a shorter, lower backhand to the net and broke serve at 15 to tie the score at 4-3.
The longest game of the game ensued, with Townsend fighting to regain game point before finishing a 19-point marathon with a threatening cross-court return to tie the game eight frames later.
In the 11th game, Stearns kept his eyes on the ball and hit an ambitious forehand to get a break point. When Townsend broke back with a backhand, Stearns broke serve for the fourth time in the final, making it 6-5.
A calm Stearns earned double championship points when Townsend smashed a wild forehand down the line. Stearns missed her last forehand to seal her second tour-level title in 2 hours and 22 minutes.
