American McHale Captures First Career WTA Title

New Jersey Native Fights Back From a Set Down to Win Tokyo Crown

September 19, 2016 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff


Credit photo to Akira Ando

American Christina McHale won the first WTA singles title of her career on Sunday, coming back from a set down to beat Katerina Siniakova 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to win the Japan Women’s Open Tennis title.

“I don’t even want to put my trophy down—I just want to gold it all the time,” the 24-year old New Jersey native said. “I’ve been coming to this tournament for a few years now and I really love it here. Thanks to all the fans and everyone here for sticking through all the rain delays—we’ve had a few, especially today.”

It was a long tournament for McHale, who played the full three sets in all of her five matches, and the final was no exception. McHale, who was playing in only her second career final, came out firing in the third set, opening up a commanding 4-0 lead and seemed to be on her way to a routine third set victory.

But Siniakova rallied, trimming the lead to 4-5 and had a chance to serve to even things at 5-5. But McHale would not be denied, putting together a great return game to break Siniakova right back and capture the first singles title of her career.

McHale, who is the Tennis Pro at Boca West Country Club, played more than 13 hours of tennis during her Tokyo run, and had to come down from one set down in two of her matches.

The win bumps McHale up 11 spots in the rankings to number 42 in the world. 


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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