Teenager Christina McHale of the USA pulled a huge upset over No. 8 seed, Marion Bartoli of France with a straight-sets victory 7-6(2), 6-2 in round 2 of the 2011 US Open.
Nineteen-year-old Christina hit 20 winners, with 28 unforced errors and converted on 5 of 16 break-point opportunities. Marian hit 21 winners with 38 unforced errors while converting on 3 of 5 break point chances.
After her match, Christina said: “I’m so excited to have beaten a player like Marion… I couldn’t play like any sloppy games. I had to try and compete really hard in the second set because I knew she was going to try even harder, too, to get the second set because she lost the first. When I went from 3-Love to 3-2, I was like, ‘C’mon, Christina, don’t let it get back to 3-All.’ That game was a big game to get it to 4-2.”
In the past two weeks Christina recorded wins over #1 Caroline Wozniacki and #16 Svetlana Kuznetsova. She finished 2007 ranked #712, 2008 at #425, 2009 at #218, and last year at #115. She will be in the top 50 after this year’s US Open.
In the third round, Christian will play No. 26 ranked Maria Kirilenko of Russia. Christian and Maria have never faced each other before.
