Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend Win Historic U.S. Open Women's Doubles Title
NEW YORK – Under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium, Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend turned a shaky start into a historic finish, and in doing so, completed very different versions of the same dream.
The No. 1 seeds claimed their first U.S. Open women’s doubles title together on Friday night, clawing back to beat wild cards Ashlyn Krueger and Robin Montgomery 5-7, 6-0, 6-2. The scoreline tells a story of recovery; the context turns it into legacy.
From 0-3 down to total control
For the first 20 minutes, the script belonged to the kids.
Townsend and Siniakova trailed 0-3 in the opening set, out of rhythm and under pressure from two fearless young Americans who swung as if they had nothing to lose. Krueger and Montgomery, reunited after winning the U.S. Open girls’ doubles title in 2021, played with the looseness of players who had already overachieved, having taken out last year’s champions Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski in separate matches earlier in the tournament.
The top seeds never quite recovered in that first set. They steadied, they pressed, but Krueger and Montgomery held their nerve to close it out 7-5.
Then the match flipped.
Townsend and Siniakova came out for the second set as if someone had hit reset. Returns grew heavier. The first-serve percentage climbed. The net became their territory. Krueger and Montgomery, so bold early, suddenly found no space to breathe.
Six games later, the scoreboard read 6-0. A bagel in a major final, delivered with ruthless clarity.
The momentum stayed with the top seeds. The third set wasn’t a procession, but it was controlled. Townsend’s lefty serve and aggressive forehand set the tone from the baseline; Siniakova tightened the screws at net, cutting off angles and finishing points with authority. The wild cards kept swinging, but the gap in experience finally showed.
A 6-2 closing set sealed the title. From 0-3 down and a set lost, to 12 of the next 14 games. Champions’ tennis.
Two careers, one Grand Slam
For Townsend, 30, this was the final piece of a career-defining puzzle. The New York trophy completes her set of women’s doubles majors, adding the U.S. Open to titles at Wimbledon 2024, the 2025 Australian Open and the 2026 French Open with Siniakova.
For Siniakova, 30, the achievement is even more rare. This is the second time she has completed the career doubles Grand Slam.
She first did it alongside Barbora Krejcikova when they lifted the U.S. Open trophy in 2022. Since then, she has added a French Open doubles title with Coco Gauff in 2024, and now another full sweep with Townsend.
Few doubles players get one lap of that particular track. Siniakova has now gone around twice.
“There was lot of nerves,” she admitted on court after the match. “We were really fighting for this one, so I’m just really proud. We did it.”
The nerves made sense. This wasn’t just another trophy; it was a career milestone, again.
Wild cards who refused to play like it
Across the net, Krueger and Montgomery left with no silverware but a stack of credibility.
They arrived in the main draw on a wild card and left having taken out the defending champions—Routliffe and Dabrowski—albeit with each former champion playing alongside a different partner this year. The Americans rode that momentum all the way to Arthur Ashe, where they pushed the top seeds for a set before the match turned.
For Montgomery, the run also felt like a reunion tour with real stakes.
"I think with what we've just done has been amazing," she said. "I think we did forget that we were offered a wild card, so I'm just glad we made good use of it, and I'm glad we were able to come back together and continue playing here, especially with our success in juniors."
The stage was bigger now, the crowd louder, but the chemistry that won them the 2021 U.S. Open girls’ doubles title was still there. This time, it carried them to a senior final.
A night heavy with meaning
For Townsend, the moment stretched far beyond tactics and trophies.
On the same day two Black American men—Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton—were set to face off in the men’s singles semifinals for a place in Sunday’s final, the women’s doubles court featured two Black American women: Townsend and Montgomery.
It was impossible to ignore the significance.
Addressing the crowd inside Ashe, Townsend highlighted what this U.S. Open has represented for Black American players. Later, in her press conference, she expanded on the point.
"I'm so proud to be able to click on the TV and watch Frances and Ben, and one of them is going to be able to be in a Grand Slam final, and that's a beautiful thing," she said. "You know, Robin, myself, you know, it's been Coco, it's been a phenomenal US Open for people of color, and just being able to show people, like, it's possible, you know?
"But we're not the first; we're definitely not going to be the last."
On a night when Siniakova quietly made history for a second time and Townsend finally completed her own Grand Slam map, the bigger picture came into focus: a generation of players not just winning matches, but widening the path for whoever comes next.
