McHale Unseats Invitational Defending Champ Oudin at Dellwood

Despite a worrisome forecast and overcast morning skies, which threatened the successful completion of  Saturday's events at Dellwood, the weather held out and the sun eventually emerged to allow most matches to take place as scheduled.

In fact, the only match which had to be changed due to weather was the opening match of the day, scheduled for 1 p.m., between Victoria Azarenka and Julia Cohen.  Fortunately, thanks to the careful planning of the organizers of the Invitational, it still took place on time at the excellent indoor facilities of West Rock Tennis Club.  Ranked eighteenth in the world, Azarenka easily defeated the 179^th ranked Cohen 6-0, 6-1, though the two competitors put on a show to wow the crowd.

Following Azarenka and Cohen was the highly anticipated match between defending champion Melanie Oudin and local pro Christina McHale.  The exciting semifinals match was held back at Dellwood, as the weather had already started to clear up, and it certainly drew the largest crowd of any match yet.  McHale won the hard-fought, tumultuous match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.  With all the hype surrounding Oudin and their disparity in world rankings, McHale was the underdog going into the match.

McHale's upset of Oudin was certainly a shock to many.  However, viewing the match without any prior knowledge of the players, one would have no idea that Oudin is ranked 42^nd in the world, while McHale is ranked 158^th.  Though things seemed dim for McHale coming out of the first set, she rapidly turned it around and kept the momentum going to secure the win in the third set.

The two held their serves to begin the first set, leaving it tied 3-3.  Oudin then pulled away when she held her serve and came back from a 40-0 deficit to break McHale.  She completed the set by holding her serve with some excellently placed shots to take the set 6-3.

McHale came back with a vengeance to begin the second set, as she took the first five games before Oudin could take one.  McHale attributed the turnaround after the match to the fact that "I started using my forehand more and tried to go after the short ball.  I tried to be more aggressive and attack the net." 

Great placement of herself and her shot allowed McHale the lead in the second set as well, helped along by Oudin's sudden difficulty with unforced errors.  Oudin was determined to come back though, and went on the offensive to win the next three sets before McHale collected herself to win one more.

McHale opened the third set by breaking Oudin and holding her serve to go up 2-0.  Oudin then held with four excellent serves, but was unable to then break McHale, who played the angles well and attacked the net to go up 3-1.  Oudin continued to stay in it, holding with powerful serves and a slam down the line.

Oudin and McHale continued to battle back and forth, each holding twice more to bring the set to 5-4.  It was then McHale's serve in potentially the final game of the match.  After an intense volley, McHale returned the ball long to put Oudin up 15-0.  She evened the game with an unreturnable serve and then took the lead after a great volley when Oudin's shot down the line went wide.  After another great volley, Oudin lobbed it up and McHale ran in to slam it at that the net and put her at match point.  Oudin was able to win one more volley before McHale won on an excellent volley as Oudin's return landed out.

This won the exciting semifinals match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 for McHale, as she unseated the former champion to move onto the finals.  Both competitors played an excellent match to awe the large crowd.  In looking ahead to her finals match, McHale is confident in her game and ability to play against the tough competitor.  "I know she loves to take the ball early," said McHale, "so I'll probably use the same strategy I used today."