Christina McHale tosses Ekaterina Makarova aside in the opening round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
America’s Christina McHale produced a ruthless display of tennis at the opening round of Wimbledon Championships to see off Ekaterina Makarova 2-6, 6-1, 8-6 and secure her second round berth at the tournament, being played at the
All England Club in Wimbledon, London.
The Russian No.8 showed aggression, resilience and no end of skill against the much-improved American before losing the remaining sets in just 92 minutes of play. The 23-year-old Makarova had never progressed beyond the second
round before and despite promising to push her American opponent all the way, her attacking weapons were rarely on view.
McHale’s serve started to work her way and she began to dominate in the second set as she won a whopping 93 percent behind her first serve, and combined with a deadly array of thundering forehands, the American number four secured
the second set in just 25 minutes.
The second set swiftly wrapped up and, although Makarova showed some fight at the start of the set, McHale’s booming serve got her completely out of trouble as she charged through to wrap up the second set in convincing fashion.
Increasingly frustrated, the Russian was not even helped by her two-handed backhands, but the crowd at the All England Club Lawn and Tennis and Croquet Club, was thankful for the ongoing drama as McHale and Makarova take the intriguing
encounter to third set, although with some nervy moments and more sloppy mistakes.
As McHale’s increased work-rate helped her continue to dictate proceedings from the baseline, Makarova, finally wilted under immense pressure as her depressed opponent secured a 2-6, 6-1, 8-6 victory on her decisive match point
to win in 126 minutes.
The 19-year-old McHale, who had never participated before at the Wimbledon, seemed to have steadied her game as she overcame her rising unforced error count to clinch the third set.
McHale wrapped up her three-set victory by virtue of a whopping nine aces and 23 winners. In addition, she won an impressive 70 percent behind her first serve, 47 percent behind her second serve and a total of 35 of 83 on return.
By contrast, her Russian opponent finished off the match with a whopping 30 unforced errors while scoring a total of 36 winners.
Standing in the way of a third round spot for McHale would be either Japan’s Ayumi Morita or Austria’s Tamira Paszek.
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