Tennis player Taylor Townsend ranks No. 205 in the world.

She won her first-round match at the French Open, beating fellow American and 62nd ranked Vania King, 7-5, 6-1. 

From NBC: 

It was King’s first appearance playing singles at a Grand Slam event, and she needed to earn a wild card spot to get there.

Even more impressive was the way Townsend won the match. She was down 1-5 in the first set, but came back to win 12 of the last 13 games.

Townsend told LiveTennis.com that the experience was “fun.”

“I was really nervous at first, but I tried to fight every single point. Every ball that came on my side, I just tried to get it back, and worked on being positive the whole time,” Townsend told the web site.

Read more at NBC

The next round is projected to be much tougher when Townsend competes against France’s top player 20th ranked Alize Cornet.

Townsend, who grew up in Chicago’s Englewood community, learned her game at the South Side’s XS Tennis program. She was present when Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the launching of a $9.8 million tennis facility on the site of the former Robert Taylor Homes.

Outstanding.

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