Two stars looking to shine (again) in Austin!

I feel like approaching this match with the stats first! In theory, Taylor has been three times more efficient than Ashlyn this season at converting her dominance into wins. However, Ashlyn has just played a statement quarterfinal, saving 10 break points out of 13. She’s currently “breaking” her bad efficiency stat at just the right time, in front of her Texan home crowd!

Ashlyn is absolutely dominating in Tiebreaks Won %(100%) and in her ability to hold her Service Games%. That’s the guarantee of a long match: she’s very hard to break. Taylor completely outclasses Ashlyn in Dominance Ratio (1.233 vs 1.000) and especially in Return Points%. Taylor doesn’t just serve; she systematically attacks on the return to come forward to the net. That’s an area where she excels thanks to her doubles skills, even though she’s close to dropping out of the top 10 after her supremacy in 2025.

Okay, numbers are nice but where does that leave us? Ashlyn has been underperforming for 6 months but here she’s producing tennis worthy of her golden stretches in 2023. She has the best ace ratio in Austin and the highest percentage of break points saved. A player who’s been “stuck” for 6 months and suddenly finds her feel for the game again, and at home on top of that, becomes extremely dangerous. Her 1.85m height gives her great reach and she shows shades of the Kazakh Queen Rybakina. She’s not going to be easy to break. She also has the freshness advantage with one hour less on court than her opponent today.

Taylor is showing exceptional movement this week, even though she’s still a bit overweight, and she’s had some big matches this week that could tip the scales. There’s also a coaching change going on right now and this is the very first semifinal of her career, which could bring extra stress compared to Kreuger, who is more used to winning.