As seeds began to fall in the women’s event at the combined Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Wednesday, 19-year-old American wild card Christina McHale pulled off the biggest victory of her promising young career by stunning world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 57 minutes, preventing the Dane from winning her 50th match of the season.
“I still can’t believe it right now. I’m trying to soak it all in, I’m so excited,” McHale told the crowd in her on-court interview after the match.
The Englewood Cliffs, N.J., resident, who trains at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., but calls the Tenafly Racquet Club home, didn’t seem frightened of the magnitude of the match from the beginning and quickly began hitting hard flat shots to go a long with perfectly constructed angles. She also mixed in plenty of lobs which seemed to throw off the Dane and was incredibly consistent throughout the match with her forehand.
McHale, who is currently ranked No. 76 in the world and the No. 4 American, broke Wozniacki’s serve in the third game of the match but couldn’t consolidate the break. Born in 1992 and the youngest player in the Top 100, McHale didn’t waste time getting back on track as she quickly broke her opponents serve. However, up a break at 4-3, McHale again was broken by the top-ranked player as the opening set was leveled at 4-all. McHale quickly broke serve again, for the third time in the set, and eventually won the opening set 6-4 in 50 minutes.
In the first set, McHale won 16 of 24 first serve points, hit one ace and won 57 percent of service points. Serving seemed to hold back Wozniacki as she served just 68 percent and won just 2 points on her second serve.
After exchanging service breaks to start the second set, both players seemed to loosen up while serving as the set went on. With that, the crowd started to get more vocal in their support towards the American late in the second set as they could sense the upset starting to happen at 4-4, and it was clear from Wozniacki’s box in the first row under the canopy, which included her father, Pitor, and boyfriend Rory McIlroy of the PGA Tour, that they might have to comprehend that it might be another early round exit at a WTA Premier 5 event in as many weeks for their prized possession.
As McHale served for the match at 6-5 in the second set, Wozniacki smashed four unforced errors which included a huge forehand that floated long to give McHale her first career win against a Top 5 player. The win marks the first time a wild card has beaten the top seed in Cincinnati since Jamea Jackson upset Marion Bartoli in the first round in the 2008 event. McHale also becomes the first American teenager to beat a world No. 1 since 19-year-old Serena Williams upset Martina Hingis in the semifinals at the 2001 US Open. The loss by Wozniacki means she will have to wait until next week’s New Haven Open at Yale to surpass the $10 million career tournament prize money mark.
“I was definitely excited to play her, and I knew the crowd would help me a little bit, being here in the States,” said McHale. “I was just trying to take each point one at a time and not get too focused on who I was playing or the moment.”
McHale will next face Nadia Petrova, who upset No. 15 seed Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 7-6(4) on the new Court 3. The series is tied 1-1, with Petrova winning most recently at the BNP Paribas Open in three sets in March. But, McHale defeated the veteran Russian last year in Cincinnati in the opening round when Petrova retired with an injury.
Other happenings around the grounds at the Lindner Family Tennis Center that shocked fans was the news that former world No. 1 and 13-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams and No. 3 seed Victoria Azarenka were withdrawing from the tournament due to injuries.
Williams, who has gone 12-0 since Wimbledon, held a brief press conference to announce that she had sustained right toe aggravation and didn’t want to run the risk of missing the US Open in less than two weeks.
“I’m definitely disappointed, but at the same time I have a lot to look forward to,” said Williams. “(I) definitely think rest is what I should do. If anything, it’ll make them better, maybe because I have more opportunity to rest up and get 200% healthy, which could be a very dangerous thing.”
Azarenka, who was scheduled to clash with Israeli Shahar Peer in the night session match on Center Court after No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated Ryan Harrison in straight sets, withdrew with a right hand strain. Azarenka was replaced in the draw by lucky loser Pauline Parmentier, who fell to Peer 6-2, 6-3 in just under 90 minutes.
Winners in the men’s event included No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal, No. 4 Andy Murray, No. 5 David Ferrer, No. 6 Gael Monfils, No. 7 Mardy Fish, No. 9 Nicolas Almagro, No. 10 Gilles Simon and No. 12 Richard Gasquet. The only seed to fall on Wednesday was No. 15 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who lost to Alex Bogomolov Jr., 6-3 6-4.
