Christina McHale downs Galina Voskoboeva to reach the second round – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Home favourite, Christina McHale, continued with her sublime form in the opening round of the Sony Ericsson Open, beating the world number 51, Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan, on Wednesday. Unseeded in the tournament, McHale registered
her third consecutive victory over Voskoboeva, finishing off the contest in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the second round of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Mandatory event in Miami, Florida.
27-year-old Voskoboeva hung in the contest for one hour and 27 minutes before she finally had to submit to the fury of the American teenager. 19-year-old McHale bettered her opponent in every segment of the game, driving her out
of the mega event in style. She defeated the Kazakh opponent in the fourth round of the Wimbledon Championships last year and her Wednesday’s victory extended her all-time head-to-head lead against her by 3-0.
It was McHale’s 12th victory of the 2012 WTA season and an emphatic one as well. She was aggressive throughout the contest and excelled over the Kazakh veteran in all aspects to come out as the winner. She delivered
71 per cent of her serve on target and won 26 out of 45 first serve points, whilst Voskoboeva closely followed her with 21 out of 35 points in the match. The key difference lied between the number of break point conversions these both players had in the match.
The unseeded Kazakh registered three out of eight break points and had to suffer six out of nine from her belligerent teen opponent. The overall match stats depict a close contest between the two but it was actually McHale who dominated the proceedings for
most of the time in the match. A total of 126 points were played in the match, with McHale winning 68 and her counterpart securing 58 to finish on the losing side in the end.
McHale will have to go through the 29th seeded Czech opponent, Petra Cetkovska, in the next battle to earn a spot in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open. Cetkovska had a bye in the opening round and will take off
her Miami Masters’ campaign from the second round against McHale on Friday.
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