US Open 2026 pages
Sports · US Open 2026 · Women's Singles · Round of 64
Taylor Townsend vs 
Taylah Preston
Round of 64
Watch: ESPN · ESPN2 · ABC · ESPN app
My pick: Taylor Townsend to advance · locked 2026-08-31 20:50 UTCPrediction
Townsend beat the 20th seed by coming to the net 36 times and winning 26 of those points, which against most of this draw is an unanswerable plan. She won 85% of her first-serve points, hit 29 winners to Maja Chwalinska's ten and broke five times from ten in 1 hour 19 minutes — and she is a three-time Grand Slam doubles champion whose singles ranking of No. 96 badly understates her at this tournament, where she made the fourth round a year ago. Preston, a 20-year-old Australian wildcard ranked No. 100, produced her own straight-sets win over Alycia Parks, 6-3 6-3 in 1 hour 8 minutes, converting four of five break points and making twelve unforced errors to Parks's 32. The ratings have it around 76–24. Preston has never played a second-round match at a major; Townsend has never played her.
The case for Taylor Townsend
76% to winTownsend's serve-and-volley game is the hardest style in the draw to prepare for at short notice, and it just produced 26 net points from 36 approaches and 85% of first-serve points won. She is 113–86 on hard courts to Preston's 12–17, has reached the fourth round here twice, and is the world No. 2 in doubles — which is to say the net is not a gimmick. Preston is 20 and playing the biggest match of her career on the back of a wildcard.
The case for Taylah Preston
24% to winPreston has done nothing wrong: 6-3 6-3 over Alycia Parks in 1 hour 8 minutes, four of five break points taken, twelve unforced errors in the match. Serve-and-volley is unusual but it is also a percentage bet that a 20-year-old with a good passing shot can beat, and Townsend's own first-serve rate of 60% leaves openings. At No. 100 to Townsend's No. 96, this is not the mismatch the seeding suggests.
Both cases written 2026-08-31, before the first ball — frozen into the record exactly as written, whatever the result. The percentages are mine — opinions with a percent sign on. They add to 100 because tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.
Tale of the tape
Taylor TownsendTaylah PrestonPlayer vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-31.
Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
The briefing
Storylines
- Townsend beat 20th seed Maja Chwalinska 6-2 6-3, winning 26 of 36 net points and 85% of her first-serve points.
- Preston beat Alycia Parks 6-3 6-3 in 1 hour 8 minutes with 12 unforced errors to Parks's 32.
- Townsend reached the fourth round here in 2019 and 2025; Preston has never won a second-round match at a major.
- Career hard-court records: Townsend 113–86, Preston 12–17.
- First meeting: they have never played.
Head to head
They have never met at tour level.
Source: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-31.
Watch: Second-round coverage runs across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, with ESPN Deportes in Spanish — and every court streams in the ESPN app, which is where a match away from the two show courts will live. (ESPN press-room release and listings, as of 2026-08-27)
Court & schedule: Not yet assigned. The US Open posts each day's order of play the evening before, and this match has not reached the board yet. (Official US Open order-of-play release cadence, as of 2026-08-31)
Weather: Rain is the story of the week's opening, and it is forecast to get worse before it clears. Showers and thunderstorms are likely overnight — 72% under a low near 72°F — and Tuesday is the worst day on the board: near 81°F with storms likely through the day, 67%, and again after dark at 64%. Wednesday is the break in it, near 76°F on a 26% chance of showers, with a slight chance of storms returning overnight; Thursday is warm and unsettled again, near 84°F on 53%. Friday is the first clean day of the fortnight — near 82°F and mostly sunny after an early 15%. Ashe and Armstrong close their roofs and play on; everything else waits. (National Weather Service New York forecast, as of 2026-08-31)
Venue: USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York — hard.
At this Stage
The Round of 64 halves the draw again: 32 women's matches across Wednesday and Thursday, every one of them between players who have already won here this week. The seeds who came through the opening round now meet opponents with form behind them rather than a ranking.
Round of 128
Round of 32