McHale Beats Vandeweghe at Citi Open
In a battle of two American rising stars, Christina McHale defeated seventh-seeded Coco Vandeweghe 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in a first-round contest at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
McHale broke four times in six opportunities and saved three of the five break points she faced to get past Vandeweghe, who recently reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
The 62nd-ranked McHale will move on and face Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, who ousted Japan’s Kurumi Nara 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) on Monday.
Second-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur notched her 500th career match win, becoming the 15th active player to do so. Stosur cruised past France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 6-2 in a little over an hour.
“I served very well today, and I think that kind of set the tone for the match,” said Stosur. “Also I don’t think her serve was as effective as it was the last time we played, but I was returning well, too. I think my returning gave me so inroads in her service games, which really helped me.”
Stosur will face American Irina Falconi in the second-round. Falconi outlasted fellow American Taylor Townsend 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3 on Monday.
American Sloane Stephens had no problems in her first-round match on Tuesday, moving past Poland’s Magda Linette 6-2, 6-1. Stephens saved all three break points she faced and won 77 percent of her first service points to cruise past Linette.
Stephens draws fourth-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the next round. Kuznetsova beat American Sanaz Marand 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
Top-seed Ekaterina Makarova and third-seed Belinda Bencic both won in straight sets to reach the second round as well.
