Rising American Christina McHale Charges On

American Christina McHale, 19, has reached at least the second round in her past three Grand Slams. Christina McHale is picking up in Melbourne right where she left off in the 2011 season. The 19-year-old McHale has reached the third round at a Grand Slam for the second consecutive time. She also reached the third round at last year’s U.S. Open. Ranked No. 42 in the world, McHale upset 24th-seed Lucie Safarova in the first round, breaking her higher ranked opponent three times to win in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4. McHale faced a much stiffer challenge in the second round, knocking off New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic, 3-6, 7-6 [4], 6-3, in a bout that lasted 2 hours, 47 minutes. McHale, the second ranked American woman behind only Serena Williams, now gets to face former world No. 1 and 13th- seed Jelena Jankovic. The teen lost badly to Serbia’s No. 1 in their only matchup at last year’s Family Circle Cup quarterfinal match, 6-2, 6-0. McHale, who graduated from high school in 2010 and ...