McHale, Keys, Falconi Prevail

Written by: Staff on 30th August 2011

McHale, Keys, Falconi Prevail |

Pictured: Madison Keys

(Courtesy of the USTA)

A trio of young American women pulled out victories in yesterday’s first round. Christina
McHale, 19, the youngest player in the Top 100—and, at No. 66, the No. 4 American—
gutted out a 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 victory over former world No. 21 Aleksandra Wozniak. She moves
on to face No. 8 seed Marion Bartoli in the next round.

In the day’s only all-American matchup, 16-year-old up-and-comer Madison Keys defeated
37-year-old Jill Craybas, 6-2, 6-4, to move into the second round of her maiden Grand Slam
event. In 2009, Keys became the youngest woman to win a WTA match since Martina Hingis
in 1994, and she is also the youngest player ever to compete in World TeamTennis, where
she once defeated Serena Williams in a one-set match.

McHale and Keys was joined in the winner’s circle yesterday by 21-year-old Irina Falconi,
who defeated Klara Zakopalova, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, for her first Grand Slam main draw victory.
Falconi, the 2010 collegiate Player of the Year at Georgia Tech, reached the US Open main
draw last year as a qualifying wild card. She has since qualified for the Australian Open and
Wimbledon and won a USTA playoff to earn a wild card into the French Open to climb into
the Top 80.

In other matches, the darlings of the last two US Opens dropped tough matches. Ryan
Harrison—one of just two teenagers currently ranked in the men’s Top 100—fell in a tight
three-setter to No. 27 seed Marin Cilic. Harrison served for both the second and third sets
but couldn’t overcome 37 unforced errors and a first-serve percentage of 43 percent. Also,
2009 US Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin