CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) — U.S. Olympian Christina McHale saved a set point, then used a late service break to pull out a 7-6 (5), 7-5 win over Jarmila Gajdosova in the first-round of the Mercury Insurance Open on Tuesday.
McHale, the No. 5 seed, struggled against the Australian and both players held serve late into each set. But McHale took advantage of Gajdosova’s mistakes to claim the tiebreak and hit some late winners to claim the victory.
In other first-round matches, American Vania King defeated Kai-Chen Chang of Taiwan 6-1, 6-4; Marina Erakovic of New Zealand beat Anne Keothavong of Great Britain 6-4, 6-0; Heather Watson of Great Britain ousted Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 6-3, 6-3; and Melinda Czink of Hungary beat qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
