Tennis News

A tennis career plays out on a myriad of stages. One minute, American Christina McHale is headlining Margaret Court Arena and battling Agnieszka Radwanska, the reigning WTA Finals champion, in the first round of the Australian Open.

The next, she finds herself far from Melbourne’s spotlight and bringing new meaning to the word “battle” in an ITF 50K Challenger tournament in Maui.

“I felt like I needed more match play, because I didn’t get enough matches in Australia,” McHale told WTA Insider on Sunday.

A former World No.24, McHale went 1-3 in her first three events of the season, but rather than retreat to the practice courts – and the cold New Jersey winter – she made the rare decision to enter an ITF event during the second week of the Australian Open.

“I’d just had a really long off-season and I was doing a lot of practicing. I saw there were a bunch of tournaments, and Maui seemed like a good place because it’s on the way home; it seemed like a good place to stop. Luckily, I got a wildcard at the last minute, so everything worked out.”

Top seed at an event that featured Brisbane International semifinalist Samantha Crawford and ASB Classic quarterfinalist Naomi Broady, McHale hardly cruised through a Valley Isle vacation at her first ITF event since 2013.

“It’s definitely different. The nice part of it was that it was in Hawaii, and the hotel was right at the courts, so it was easy to walk to.

“The first day I was waiting for the schedule to be emailed to me, because that’s how it normally is at WTA tournaments, and then I remembered that’s not how it works in ITFs! We didn’t have ball kids, and we didn’t have a full set of line judges on some of the courts.

“It took some getting used to.”

Sand sprints in paradise. Hello from Hawaii ? pic.twitter.com/VmUFCcXmv7

— Christina McHale (@ChristinaMcHale) January 26, 2016

After fighting through a tricky opening round against former World No.7 Nicole Vaidisova, she needed three sets in the semifinals against the big-serving Broady and American teenager Raveena Kingsley, who had taken out Crawford and Jessica Pegula to reach the final.

“I had some really tough matches here; my semifinal was really difficult and so was my match today. The level of play was quite high. In terms of getting good match play in, it was tough.”

The American had started her 2016 season with a first career WTA doubles title in Hobart, but Maui was her first title of any kind in singles, having reached one WTA final in 2014 and two ITF finals at the very start of her career in 2007 and 2009.

Ranked solidly in the Top 70, McHale considers herself lucky to be able to play an ITF knowing the doors to the most prestigious tournaments remain open to her.

“It definitely makes you appreciate a lot of the things I take for granted when playing WTA tournaments. It might have even been a little bit of a wake up call. But everyone here was really nice, and all of the volunteers that helped put this tournament together did a good job. I don’t want to take away from that.”

Indeed, McHale takes away only positives from her winning week in Maui, getting some much-needed match play, all with a tropical backdrop at her disposal.

“My fitness trainer Rodney Marshall is a USTA fitness coach; he was here and so I kind of used it as a training week, as well. I was able to do some work outs on the beach; it’s really cold back home so it was nice to be in this warmer weather for the week. It was good to have a men and women’s tournament, so there were a lot of players here to practice with.

“Just being in Hawaii was really nice.”

Heading home before resuming a full slate of WTA events in Rio, Acapulco, Monterrey, and Indian Wells, a confident McHale hopes to have kick-started her season with the wind at her back and a sunkissed trophy in her hand.

“It’s definitely very motivating. This week served its purpose, because I came here trying to get matches and work on my fitness. In that regard, it was really good.

“It does make you appreciate all of the Slams and the other big tournaments that we go to.”

Thanks for a great week Maui! ? @TCofM pic.twitter.com/h6gh8Y7YG4

— Christina McHale (@ChristinaMcHale) January 31, 2016

Follow Christina on Twitter @ChristinaMcHale!

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia/KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan – The St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy and the Taiwan Open are new additions to the WTA Calendar, the former headlined by top seed Belinda Bencic and former No.1s Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki, while Venus Williams leads the field in the latter.

Bencic is coming off of her first career fourth round appearance at the Australian Open, and with few points to defend until the grass court season, the young Swiss Miss will be aiming to make the Top 10 debut that narrowly eluded her at the end of 2015.

Granted a first round bye, Bencic will face stiff opposition from the get-go, as she plays the winner of the first round encounter between Annika Beck – who also reached the fourth round in Melbourne, falling to eventual champion Angelique Kerber, or Lucie Hradecka. The high seed in her quarter is hometown favorite and No.5 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who has played well in Russia, having reach the final of the last two Kremlin Cup tournaments – winning in 2014.

A potential semifinal opponent for Bencic is No.3 seed Caroline Wozniacki, who took a late wildcard in the hopes of kick-starting her 2016 after a surprising first round loss in Australia. Things might not get much easier for the Dane, however, as she could face former Top 10 player Dominika Cibulkova in the second round. No.7 seed Kristina Mladenovic, currently playing Fed Cup in Marseille, is her projected quarterfinal opponent, should she get past either 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens or rising Russian Daria Kasatkina – who made a second straight Grand Slam third round in Melbourne.

No.2 seed Roberta Vinci and No.4 seed Ana Ivanovic flank the bottom half of the draw – Ivanovic could play another one of the young Russians, Margarita Gasparyan, in the second round – Gasparyan fell to World No.1 in the fourth round of the Australian Open – and is slated to face No.8 seed and Hobart International champion Alizé Cornet in the quarters. Vinci opens against either Jelena Ostapenko or Yanina Wickmayer, and could play No.6 seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the last eight; Schmiedlova had an impressive summer swing in which she made her first career Premier quarterfinal at the Western & Southern Open as a qualifer.

Over in Taiwan, the elder of the Williams sisters has no first round bye in this 32-player draw, and opens against local wildcard Lee Pei-Chi. In an interesting quarters that features names to watch like Donna Vekic and Anastasija Sevastova – a former No.36 who made her return to tennis following a brief retirement at the start of 2015 – Williams could face fellow American and No.8 seed Alison Riske in the quarterfinals. No.3 seed Yulia Putintseva is also coming off a solid run at the Australian Open – beating Wozniacki en route to the third round – and is Williams’ projected semifinal opponent. The two played a rousing first round at Wimbledon last year, with the five-time champion coming out on top, 7-6(5), 6-4.

On the bottom half of the draw is the talented Japanesewoman, Misaki Doi, who held a match point against Kerber to start the Australian Open. Doi will open against Kristyna Pliskova, who hit a record number of aces in Melbourne, and could play No.7 seed and countrywoman Kurumi Nara in the quarterfinals. 

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Playing in her home country, No.5 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won a thrilling first round encounter with qualifier and former Top 20 player, Klara Koukalova, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Down 0-3 to start the match, the 24-year-old won six of the next seven games to take the opening set, but it came down to the wire against the Czech veteran, who had beaten her in their last two meetings.

“She started really well; actually she played really good the whole match,” the Russian said in her on-court interview. “She played three matches in qualifying, so I think that was the key for her. I had a really slow start and didn’t feel in good shape, but the only thing I did was fight.

A new event on the WTA calendar, Pavlyuchenkova was impressed by some of the in-match entertainment, including an intricate light show to announce the players.

“That was amazing. Maybe that’s why I had a slow start,” she said with a laugh. “I was still thinking and looking around.

“The crowd was amazing, as well. I love playing at home. It’s Russia!”

The Russian was equally effusive in her praise of the event before main draw action began at the gala dinner.

“It’s good for Russian tennis and great for Russian fans to have another WTA tournament in this country. St Petersburg is a beautiful backdrop for this event. I’m very happy to be here and proud to welcome players from all over the world to my home country.”

Clocking in at just over two hours, Pavlyuchenkova booked a spot in the second round, where she’ll play German youngster, Carina Witthoeft.

“I’m really old already, 24! But it’s not about age. I think she’s good. She’s fresh, and didn’t have a bad start to the year. I have to be really focused and play a lot better than today.”

Earlier in the day, Witthoeft had dispatched qualifier and former World No.26 Tamira Paszek, 6-3, 6-3. Fellow qualifier Kateryna Kozlova had better luck, upsetting Fed Cup heroine Barbora Strycova, 6-3, 6-4. No.9 seed Monica Niculescu had few problems taking out local wildcard Natlia Vikhlyantseva, 6-0, 6-3, and Yanina Wickmayer set up a second round with No.2 seed Roberta Vinci when she beat Jelena Ostapenko, 6-4, 6-3.

Rising Russian starlet Margarita Gasparyan played the final match of the night in St. Petersburg, dismissing Bojana Jovanovski, 6-1, 6-2.