Agnieszka Radwanska said 2016 was the year she would win a Grand Slam, and she got her 2016 Australian Open bid off to a fine start with a strong victory over Christina McHale. The Pole took an hour and twenty minutes to get past her opponent with a 6-2, 6-3 win.
Radwanska Survives Crazy Start
It took no time at all for Radwanska to race to a 2-0 lead. After holding to open the match, Radwanska was gifted three break points when McHale committed three consecutive unforced errors. After saving the first break point with an ace, Radwanska charged the net and was rewarded with a break when she hit a volley winner.
But McHale was not going to go away quietly. In the following game, she raced to a 15-40 lead and converted her first break point to break back. Trying to consolidate and get back on even footing, the American found herself under pressure from her fourth-seeded opponent. After a pair of game points were missed from 40-15, the game went to deuce three times. After each woman missed one advantage, it would be Radwanska claiming the break back once again with a forehand winner on her second break point for a 3-1 lead.
But once again, McHale came charging right back. She again raced a 15-40 lead and again converted to reclaim the break. This time it was Radwanska’s turn to charge ahead 15-40 and the Pole claimed a fifth consecutive break of serve to open up a 4-2 lead. McHale seemed well on her way to once again reclaiming the break in the seventh seed when, four the third consecutive return game, she got herself a 15-40 lead. Only this time Radwanska forced McHale into a pair of errors to bring the game back to deuce. The Pole would hold on and convert her first game point for a 5-2 lead. Serving to stay alive, McHale had a game point at 40-30, only to hit three straight unforced errors to gift the opening set to Radwanska.
Radwanska Holds On for Victory
The second set followed much of the same storyline. After Radwanska held in a tight opening game, she broke McHale for an early 2-0 lead. But just like the first set McHale brought up a pair of break points and converted, without having to touch a ball as Radwanska double faulted. McHale seemed set to even the match serving up 40-15, only to lose four straight points and be broken again. Once again, McHale returned the favor by breaking Radwanska. At long last, McHale consolidated her break to even the set at 3-3, powering through her next game.
McHale put a ton of pressure on Radwanska in the seventh game, forcing the Pole to a pair of deuces. But the American could not reach break point and Radwanska held on. McHale seemed out of gas after throwing everything at her Polish opponent in that game, committing three unforced errors in the next game, including one on an smash, to give Radwanska the late break. The world number four held her serve, closing out the match with an ace.
By the Numbers
Radwanska won more than fifty percent of return points on both McHale’s first and second serves. She converted seven of eleven break points, while limiting McHale to six break points, four of which were converted by the American. McHale hit more winners than her Polish opponent, twenty-four to eighteen. However, she also doubled Radwanska in unforced errors, twenty-eight to fourteen.
Radwanska will have a blockbuster in the second round, as she will take on former Australian Open semifinalist, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.