Siniakova and Townsend Claim First U.S. Open Title Together

NEW YORK – Under the closed roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium, history arrived in waves.

First came the comeback. Then the coronation. Then the bigger picture.

Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, the top seeds and the most seasoned team in the women’s doubles draw, survived a spirited start from wild cards Ashlyn Krueger and Robin Montgomery to claim their first U.S. Open title together, 5-7, 6-0, 6-2, on Friday, Sept. 11.

For Siniakova, it sealed a second career doubles Grand Slam. For Townsend, it completed her first.

A rocky start, then a ruthless response

The script did not open kindly for the favorites.

Townsend and Siniakova trailed 0-3 in the opening set, unable to settle against the fearless hitting of the 20-year-old Krueger and 19-year-old Montgomery. The underdogs swung freely, attacked second serves, and refused to be intimidated by the occasion or the names across the net.

The No. 1 seeds clawed back into the set, but the damage was done. Krueger and Montgomery held their nerve, snatched the opener 7-5, and jogged to their chairs with the swagger of players who had already knocked out the defending champions in earlier rounds — Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski, each with new partners this year.

Then the match flipped.

Townsend and Siniakova tightened their patterns, sharpened their returns, and began to dictate every exchange. The pressure finally told. The second set was a demolition: 6-0, the wild cards blanked, their early rhythm smothered by relentless first-strike tennis.

By the decider, the gap in experience was glaring. Townsend prowled the net, cutting off angles, while Siniakova locked down the baseline with heavy, flat forehands and clean backhands. They surged to a 6-2 third set, closing the door on the Americans’ run with authority.

What began as a scare ended as a statement.

Siniakova’s second lap of history

For Siniakova, 30, this was not just another trophy. It was a repeat of one of the sport’s rarest feats.

The Czech doubles specialist had already completed a career Grand Slam in women’s doubles alongside Barbora Krejcikova when they lifted the U.S. Open trophy in 2022. With that partnership, she had already checked all four majors off the list.

Now she’s done it again, with a different partner.

The title in New York follows the pair’s surge through the sport’s biggest stages: Wimbledon in 2024, the Australian Open in 2025, the French Open in 2026, and now this U.S. Open crown. Along the way, Siniakova also added a French Open doubles title in 2024 with Coco Gauff, underscoring her status as one of the defining doubles players of her era.

“There was lot of nerves,” Siniakova admitted on court, the relief plain on her face. “We were really fighting for this one, so I’m just really proud. We did it.”

The numbers and the partners keep changing. The outcome rarely does.

Wild cards who played like they belonged

Krueger and Montgomery arrived in the main draw thanks to a wild card. They left Arthur Ashe as proven performers.

Their run threaded through the shadow of last year’s champions. Both Routliffe and Dabrowski returned with different partners, and both were sent home by the young Americans in separate matches. It was a signal that this was not a token appearance by two local hopes, but a genuine surge.

Friday’s final doubled as a reunion. Krueger and Montgomery first made their mark at this very event in 2021, winning the U.S. Open girls’ doubles title together.

“I think with what we've just done has been amazing,” Montgomery said afterward. “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. Their belief matched it.

They didn’t leave with the trophy. They did leave with a blueprint.

Townsend’s moment, and a wider meaning

For Townsend, this was more than a career milestone. It was a moment tied directly to the shifting face of American tennis.

At 30, the Atlanta-born left-hander has lived through the sport’s expectations, its pressures, and its barriers. Standing on Ashe after the win, she looked beyond the scoreboard.

She noted that the women’s doubles final featured two Black American women — herself and Montgomery — on the same day two Black American men, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton, would contest a men’s singles semifinal for a place in Sunday’s final.

Later, in her press conference, she expanded on what that meant.

“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,” Townsend 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 champagne bottles popped in the locker room and a second career Grand Slam was etched into the record books, that was the line that lingered.

The trophies tell one story. The faces holding them are starting to tell another.