Rancho Santa Fe's Coco Vandeweghe Loses at La Costa Tournament

Rancho Santa Fe resident Coco Vandeweghe was a first-round loser Tuesday night in the Mercury Insurance Open, her first tournament since reaching her first final of a Women's Tennis Association tournament.

Vandeweghe lost to South African Chanelle Scheepers, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in a first-round match at the La Costa Resort and Spa. After a loss in qualifying, Vandeweghe won four main draw matches at the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, including defeating two seeded players, before losing to Serena Williams, 7-5, 6-3, Sunday.

The victories boosted the 20-year-old Vandeweghe from 120th in the WTA rankings to 69th. Scheepers is ranked 42nd and seeded eighth in the tournament. The other night singles match will pit 19-year-old Sloane Stephens of Coral Springs, Fla., against 20-year-old Melanie Oudin of Marietta, Ga. Stephens is ranked 50th, Oudin 121st.

In afternoon play, fifth-seeded Christina McHale of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., who will play in the Summer Olympics, defeated Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia, 7-6 (5), 7-5; and Chan Yung-Jan of Taiwan advanced when seventh- seeded Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium retired from the match because of a lower back injury. Chan won the first set, 7-6 (6). McHale and Gajdosova both held serve through the first 10 games of the first set. Gajdosova broke McHale's serve in the 11th game, but McHale broke back to force the tiebreaker. McHale took a 6-4 lead in the tiebreaker, then served out the tiebreaker at 6-5.

In the second set, each player again held serve through the first 10 games. As Gajdosova served at 5-5, she let three game points slip away and McHale broke for a 6-5 lead, then held serve in the next game to close out the one-hour, 57-minute match.

"It wasn't easy out there," McHale said. "My opponent played really well. It was hard to get a read on her serve."

–City News Service