Samantha Stosur rallies past Christina McHale in the second round clash – Mutua Madrid open 2012
Reigning world number five, Samantha Stosur of Australia, was stretched a bit in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open but she overcame the resistance of the American teenager, Christina McHale, to come out victorious. The 28-year-old Aussie veteran laboured for one hour and 57 minutes before sealing victory at 2-6, 6-4, 6-0, to reach the second round draw in a convincing fashion.
Being a part of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Mandatory swing, the contest was played on the blue clay of Madrid, Spain, on Monday. The fifth seed Aussie received early jolts from the 19-year-old McHale but brought all of her experience into play to outsmart her in the later parts of the match. She had already defeated the 36th ranked American in 2010 Stanford, USA, but it was a harder-fought victory for Stosur this time round.
"It was tough to get going at the start but once I got out of that second set, I felt pretty good out there," said Stosur, "Christina played very well. She was serving well and taking the ball early off the ground. She really had me moving today. It was a tough one. We played each other in Doha this year and I won there, which is a nice thing to know in the back of your mind. But it's a totally different scenario this time. She's had a nice last few years. She's playing well."
McHale was off to a fiery start in the opening set of the match and unleashed her onslaught right from the beginning to build pressure on her superior-ranked opponent. She clinched 14 out of 16 first serve points in the first set and nailed two successive break points to rocket away to a 5-1 lead in no time. The 19-year-old concluded the opener at 6-2 to get one up.
Stosur regrouped in the following set of the match and replied McHale’s two break points with three cracking serve breaks. She could barely secure eight out of 21 first serve points but managed to manoeuvre through the second set, finishing it at 6-4. Once getting into her winning groove, Stosur went on for a six-game killing spree, breaking the American’s serve in the every single serve game to register a bagel set at 6-0.
The fifth seed Aussie will next take on the unseeded Czech contender, Petra Cetkovska, in the third round of the Madrid Open later this week.
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