Christina McHale ousts Alla Kudryavtseva in the 2nd round – Mercury Open 2011
Meeting for the Second time, the American, Christina McHale had contested against the Russian, Alla Kudryavtseva in the second round of the Mercury Open on the 3rd of August 2011. They battled each other on hard courts
at the La Costa Resort and Spa, Carlsbad, California. McHale had won the first set 6-2, 3-1 but in the second set Kudryavtseva retired and hence, gave the match to her opponent.
The first time the two had taken up the gauntlet was at the Charleston event in 2010, where, Mchale had won the match with 3-6 7-6(4) 6-3. The celestial Power had given another chance to the Russian to take her revenge; however,
that was just a dream.
Kudryavtseva won the pitch and opened the Set with a wobbly hand and struck four double faults all hitting the net. Her return game was below the par and was not able to hit sufficient return shots and won a mediocre 43% of her
total return points. Additionally, her defence was shaky and was not able to save three break points out of the eight and instead, managed to break her opponent once.
On the contrary, McHale had immaculate accuracy on her serve and struck no double faults and instead smashed three aces. Although, the American had only managed to win a mediocre fifty seven percent of the total service points
in the set, she had a return game that was commendable; like a board at the back of the net she re-coiled most of her opponent’s shots. Her defence was strong and did not slip or give way instead she was able to save seventy five percent of her break points
and broke her opponent thrice. Hence, McHale won the set because of her style and technique and restricted her opponent to only two game points.
After the first set Kudryavtseva was not feeling well and although she played the second set, she called for medical attention while playing. Even though she wanted to play, she eventually retired after losing her serve in the
opening game and the first two game points due to dizziness that had taken over her serving skills and technique.
Across the board, McHale’s stats were far better than her rival Kudryavtseva’s and the American won the match with 6-3, 3-1 taking the lead 2-0 into the next round.
The 19-year-old Christina McHale has seen many ups and downs throughout her career; however her career high ranking was world number 65 which she achieved on the 25th of July 2011. Her most notable performance this year
was when she defeated world no. 38 Ekaterina Makarova in the first round at Wimbledon Championships 2011 but lost in the second.
The world number 66, American Christina McHale will be facing the pole Agnieszka Radwanska in the Third round of the Mercury Open 2011.
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