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Taylor Townsend ended the year as the No. 1 junior girl in the world—the first American girl to hold the No. 1 position in the ITF World Junior Rankings at year end since since Gretchen Rush in 1982. Townsend, a 16-year-old left-hander from Chicago who trains full-time at the USTA Training Center Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., first attained the top spot in the world rankings in April, when she became the first U.S. girl to reach No. 1 since the ITF combined singles and doubles rankings in 2004. Townsend's impressive results in 2012 include sweeping the girls’ singles and doubles titles (with Gabrielle Andrews) at the Australian Open and winning in doubles at the US Open, again with Andrews, and at Wimbledon (with Canada's Eugenie Bouchard). She also won the Easter Bowl singles title and teamed with Andrews to win in doubles at the Orange Bowl, the final junior tournament of her career, as she announced plans to turn pro in 2013.