John McHale, father of Christina, no longer has to be her daughter's chauffeur to the U.S. Open.
McHale, tennis's Jersey girl, has stayed at her parents' house in Englewood Cliffs the last four Opens to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the player hotels in Manhattan.
It wasn't until this year the McHales discovered the USTA would provide free transportation service to Flushing because they live within their service radius — five minutes from the George Washington Bridge.
"We were uneducated,'' John McHale said.
McHale, 21, is enjoying the new ride to Flushing and her ride in the main draw continued into the third round with a thrilling three-set victory over Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Getty Images
SWING AWAY: New Jersey's Christina McHale returns a shot during her 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 second-round win over Elina Svitolina yesterday at the U.S. Open.
It was a nearly three-hour baseline war on the raucous Grandstand court, marking the second time she's been to the Open's third round. But few could have seen this coming as she had lost five straight matches entering the Open.
Because of an early-season illness related to mononucleosis, McHale's ranking had fallen to 114 after once being as high as 29.
"The electricity you guys gave me was unbelievable,'' McHale told the crowd after the match in an on-court interview. "It was such a hard-fought match. I'm so, so excited to pull this one out. I've had a bit of a rough year. It means everything to do it here [in New York.]''
One fan then shouted a marriage proposal. "Some of the fans say some crazy things,'' McHale said later.
John McHale believes it's beneficial for Christina to stay with her family in New Jersey.
"It definitely helps her confidence, staying with us at night, putting on the Yankees game on TV,'' he said. "She's in a hotel on the road enough.''
"It's quicker than the city sometimes,'' said Christina, who claims she can make the commute in 15 minutes without traffic, 25 minutes with it.
McHale, a baseline grinder, will face former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the third round. Her father prefers it be on the more intimate Armstrong than Arthur Ashe Stadium.
"It's going to be another tough match,'' McHale said. " I think I'm going to need to play consistent like the way I've been playing.''
McHale, wearing her trademark red dress, was up a set and 3-1 in the second set before she started to spray her forehand, forcing a third set. McHale staved off two break points at 5-5 in the third, but she held to go up 6-5 and then broke Svitolina to take the match.
"I can't ask for a better place to have my first back-to back wins [of the year],'' said McHale, who made the third round in 2011. "My consistency really helped me today.''
marc.berman@nypost.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment