On other days, Townsend played in her home professional competition, which would be a crowd favorite.
Louis Armstrong Stadium caught eight match points on Sunday before losing to Barbora Krejcikova in three sets to exit the women’s singles in the last 16 sets.
But on the same stage of doubles, she is facing the guerrilla crowd.
After all, Williams was a four-time champion in French Flushing Meadows, winning back-to-back singles titles in 2000 and 2001, and two doubles titles with the Serena sisters in 1999 and 2009.
Throughout her career, she has fought back from wrist and back injuries and has been diagnosed with Sjogren syndrome, an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue.
It was her debut in the final eight Grand Slams since her singles semi-finals in New York in 2017 and her first doubles quarterfinals since winning Wimbledon in 2016.
But despite the noisy welcome she walked into court, the game was one-way traffic.
The No. 1 seed was ruthless, winning a 3-0 lead in the first 13 points.
Their success was full of courtesy, if silent, applause, until Game 4, when Williams regained Siniakova’s serve as a bruised forehand winner, the crowd burst for life.
Williams later continued her second service to 15 times, but Townsend and Siniakova scored just six points throughout the game, with only one foot in the last four games 22 minutes later.
It turned out to be more competitive in the second set, with Williams and Fernandez both winning players, but they couldn’t gain a foothold in the game as their opponents lowered 12 winners and had only two uncompulsory mistakes.
Townsend and Czech Siniakova, who have not yet put down a set, will face fourth seeds Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens to take a spot in the final.
