Four American Women Advance in Indian Wells
It was a good day for American women in Indian Wells on Thursday, as four of them won their respective opening round matches at the BNP Paribas Open, including Christina McHale’s straight set shocker over France’s Caroline Garcia.
McHale pulled off the upset of the day on the women’s side, rolling past the 41st ranked Garcia 6-4, 6-4 to earn her spot in the second round.
She got things started early with a break of serve in the opening game of the match, and despite Garcia getting one of the breaks back, McHale would save a couple of break points in the 10th game and went on to serve out the set.
McHale would then secure the only break point of the second set and continued to dominate on serve, winning 76 percent of her first serve points in the set to move on in straight sets.
“I knew I had to serve well because Caroline is so aggressive and I knew I had to get a lot of first serves in today, and it worked today so I’m excited,” said McHale afterwards. “You guys helped me pull through that match. I love the atmosphere and I love being at Indian Wells.”
McHale will take on fourth-seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza next.
Madison Brengle and Lauren Davis each knocked off players from Japan in straight sets, as Davis rolled past Nao Hibino 6-2, 6-4, while Brengle knocked off Misaki Doi 6-1, 7-5 to book their spots in the second round.
The fourth American to advance on Thursday was Shelby Rogers, who held on to beat Mariana Duque Marino 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
Other winners on Thursday were: Darya Kasatkina, Eugenie Bouchard, Annika Beck, Magdalena Rybarikova, Zhang Shuai, Monica Puig, Tsvetana Pironkova, Margarita Gasparyan, Camila Giorgi, Zarina Diyas, Denisa Allertova and Yanina Wickmayer.
