Christina McHale outlasts Shahar Peer to move into the last eight – Qatar Total Open 2012
Christina McHale of American and Shahar Peer of Israel are separated with just one rank in the Women Tennis Association (WTA) World Rankings. It was the inferior ranked McHale who ousted the 37th ranked
Israeli in a classic three-setter in the pre-quarter-final round of the Qatar Total Open; ending the match with the scores of 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
A breathtaking encounter between the two contestants lasted for two hours and 11 minutes. The proximity of their rankings clearly suggested something that was witnessed at the hard courts of Doha on Thursday eve.
The American tennis professional was in sublime run of form having lost just two of her last ten encounters. However, her competitor was struggling to make an impact at the courts; managing just four wins of her last ten
matches. A stage was set for a perfect match-up between the two players who were equally equipped with tennis skills and stamina.
Peer started the match with a breakthrough and doubled her lead that lasted till the end of the set. McHale was close to win a break in the sixth game but Peer held her nerves and kept her lead intact. It was a good start
for the Israeli contestant who already had an upset under her belt; defeated the twelfth seed Chinese contestant, Shuai Peng, in the previous round.
McHale had to start well so that she could recover the trail of one set. She was under the cosh in the opening game of the second set but saved two breakpoints and registered a vital hold. Both contenders swapped breakpoints
in the midst of the set to push the scores at 3-3. Although, the American was under immense pressure, she broke serve in the eighth game and struck a forceful ace to gobble up the set win.
The momentum swirled in favour of the American who dumped the Israeli tennis ace in the first four games of the final set. She broke serve twice in succession to register a vital lead of 4-0. Peer diminished the trail to
one break but couldn’t break again to level the scores and lost the set. A marvellous achievement for the American earned her the quarter-final berth in Doha against the fourth seed Pole, Agnieszka Radwanska.
In another match, Yanina Wickmayer devastated Ksenia Pervak in straight sets 6-4, 6-0. Wickmayer stated, “It was a bit windy today and not easy to serve - maybe that's why our percentages were a little low. But it's nice
to start matches later in the day, when the conditions are generally great.”
Most of the seeded players are knocked-out in the early stages so the stage is perfectly set for Victoria Azarenka to gobble up her third successive title win this year.
Tags: