Monday, March 12, 2012
Then world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. Current No. 1 Victoria Azarenka. Svetlana Kuznetsova. Marion Bartoli. Petra Kvitova knows exactly what they were thinking when they went down to the unassuming Christina McHale (something close to "What the hell???"). The Wimbledon champ was ousted from Indian Wells by the American 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the third round.
It's hard to pinpoint what it is that Christina does to fluster these bigger lady ballers. She doesn't have obvious weapons and she moves fine. Let's see. The 19-year old likes the big stage, that's for sure. But what else? She's pretty solid off the ground. But what I think gets to them is her dogged persistence. Like a terrier, she wouldn't let go of her fun, squeaky chew toy once she got hold of it (that being Petra and her squawk). The American could've gone into shell shock mode after getting spanked by Petra's piercing ground game in the first set but she waited for her opportunity - and you just know you'll get at least one with the Czech. And when Christina found her opening she held on.
Continued good signs for her development. Let's see how she builds off this win.
[Photo(s) credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images]