Early life

Christina McHale was born in Teaneck, New Jersey. She is the daughter of John and Margarita McHale. Her father John is an Irish American, while her mother Margarita was born in Cuba. Her family lived in Hong Kong from the time she was three until she was eight, and she speaks a degree of Mandarin Chinese, along with fluent Spanish. In 2000, the McHale family moved back to the United States and bought a home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. In June 2006, she graduated from Upper School of the Englewood Cliffs Public Schools as the eighth-grade valedictorian.

At the age of 15, she left home to train at the USTA Training Center headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida. She has been homeschooled through Kaplan Online High School since age 15. Her sister Lauren is a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she plays tennis for the Tar Heels.

Career

McHale previously trained at the USTA Training Center in Carson, California.

2009

McHale was granted a wildcard into the main draw of the 2009 Australian Open, where she lost a three-set match in the first round to Jessica Moore.

She received a wildcard into the main draw of the 2009 US Open, where she won her first career Grand Slam and WTA match by defeating Polona Hercog in straight sets. However, she lost to Maria Sharapova in the second round.

2010

In Boca Raton, Florida, McHale beat Asia Muhammad in qualifying. Soon afterwards, she earned a qualifying victory over Beatrice Capra for the 2010 French Open. She lost in the first round to Varvara Lepchenko.

At The Kennedy Funding Invitational Tournament, she defeated Melanie Oudin in three sets, and Victoria Azarenka in two. This tournament raised $475,000 to support breast cancer care facilities. McHale received a $40,000 cheque following her performance.

At the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open, McHale defeated Nadia Petrova in the first round and Ayumi Morita in the second. She then lost in the third round to the eventual winner and former world no. 1 Kim Clijsters.

2011

In June, she gained her first ITF singles title, winning a $50,000 event in Italy.

At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, McHale won her second Grand Slam match by defeating 28th seed Ekaterina Makarova in three sets. She lost in the second round to Tamira Paszek of Austria. In the second round of the Western & Southern Open, McHale beat then-world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets.

In the first round of the US Open, she earned a three-set victory over Aleksandra Wozniak. She went on to beat eighth seed Marion Bartoli in straight sets. McHale exited after a third-round loss to 25th seeded Maria Kirilenko.

2012

McHale kicked off her season with a straight sets win over Alexandra Dulgheru at the 2012 ASB Classic in Auckland. She lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round. At the 2012 Australian Open, she beat Lucie Šafářová in the first round and Marina Erakovic in the second, only to be defeated in the third round by Jelena Janković. She won both of her Fed Cup matches against Belarus in February, beating Anastasiya Yakimova and Darya Kustova. McHale then traveled to Doha, where she recorded wins over Chanelle Scheepers, Peng Shuai, and Shahar Pe'er, before falling to Agnieszka Radwańska in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Qatar Total Open. McHale opened March with wins over Elena Vesnina and Petra Kvitová after receiving a bye in the opening round, before losing to Angelique Kerber in the 4th Round of the 2012 BNP Paribas Open. McHale wrapped up March with a win over Galina Voskoboeva, before going out to Petra Cetkovská in the 2nd Round of the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open.

McHale started the clay court season in Charleston at the 2012 Family Circle Cup, where she lost in the first round to Aleksandra Wozniak. She was then selected for the Fed Cup World Group Playoff Tie in Kharkiv, Ukraine. McHale played the opening rubber against Lesia Tsurenko, and prevailed in three sets.

In the 2012 French Open, McHale defeated Kiki Bertens and fellow American Lauren Davis in the first two rounds before falling to defending champion Li Na in the 3rd round.

McHale advanced to the 3rd round for the 4th consecutive grand slam event in the 2012 Wimbledon Championships. She advanced over Johanna Konta and Mathilde Johansson but was defeated by 8th seeded Angelique Kerber in the 3rd round.

McHale then participated at the Olympic tennis tournament in London where she was defeated in the first round by Serb Ana Ivanovic in a close match.

It was later revealed that at this time, Christina was dealing with a bout of mononucleosis, which lasted until November.

In New York at the 2012 US Open, McHale was defeated in the first round by Kiki Bertens.

McHale then competed in the China Open in Beijing, but she was defeated in the first round by Ana Ivanovic once again.

2013

McHale started her 2013 season in Auckland, New Zealand at the 2013 ASB Classic, but lost to Pauline Parmentier in the opening round. The following week, McHale competed in the 2013 Apia Sydney International, losing to Li Na in the first round, marking a seventh consecutive defeat.

McHale's slump continued into the 2013 Australian Open, falling to Yulia Putintseva in the first round.

McHale then recorded her first win of the year (and first since August 2012) in Paris at the 2013 Open GDF Suez, defeating Pauline Parmentier in the first round. She subsequently lost to Marion Bartoli in the second round.

McHale's next tournament was the 2013 Qatar Total Open in Doha, Qatar, where she defeated Vera Dushevina in the opening round. Following that, she went on to defeat Lucie Šafářová in the second round (marking her first back-to-back victory in 2013) before falling to Victoria Azarenka in the third round.

The following week, McHale continued in the middle east swing by partaking in the qualifying event for the 2013 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, in which she defeated Kai-Chen Chang before falling to Kurumi Nara.

McHale continued her 2013 campaign at the WTA Premier Mandatory 2013 BNP Parbias Open in Indian Wells, California, opening with a victory against Tsvetana Pironkova. She subsequently lost to Maria Kirilenko in the next round.

McHale made yet another early exit at her next tournament, losing to Roberta Vinci in the second round of the 2013 Sony Open in Miami, Florida.

The first week of April marked McHale's clay court opener for the season, a loss to fellow American Varvara Lepchenko in the opening round of the 2013 Family Circle Cup. The match was the only one Christina played in April.

McHale started her European Clay Swing at the 2013 Mutua Madrid Open in Madrid Spain. She was the second seed in the qualifying event in which she advanced through to the main draw with victories over Andrea Hlaváčková and Mathilde Johansson. In the main draw, McHale opened with a win against Peng Shuai, before falling to Maria Sharapova in the second round. In Rome, McHale defeated Karin Knapp in the first round, before losing to seventh seed Sara Errani in the second. The match against Errani was the third time in as many meetings in which the match was decided in the third set.

Her French Open campaign ended in a first round defeat, whilst Wimbledon saw an improvement, where she reached the second round and was defeated by the 15th seed and eventual champion, Marion Bartoli of France.

The US Open series saw McHale's struggles continue, as she went 0-4 with first round losses at Stanford and Washington, and losses in the first qualifying round in Toronto and Cincinnati.

Following her qualifying loss in Cincinnati, McHale fired her childhood coach Gordon Uehling. Looking for a fresh start in the lead up to the US Open, McHale began working again with USTA coaches.

At the US Open, McHale reached the third round, where she faced Serbian nemesis Ana Ivanovic. After winning the first set, she served for the match at 5-4 up in the second set, but was broken, and ultimately lost the match in three sets. Despite the loss, she earned praise for her fighting performance against the former world number one.

Sponsors

McHale is sponsored by Head, and currently uses their Youtek Radical IG racquet. She also has a contract with Lacoste for apparel and a partnership with Buddy Fruits, a company that sells pouches of fresh fruit to eat on-the-go.

Personal life

She currently resides in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Her favorite tennis players include Andy Roddick, Serena and Venus Williams, and Rafael Nadal.

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Winner — Legend (pre/post 2010) Grand Slam tournaments (0-0) WTA Tour Championships (0-0) Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0-0) Premier (0-0) International (0-1)

Titles by Surface Hard (0-1) Grass (0-0) Clay (0-0) Carpet (0-0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	2 March 2014	Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco, Mexico	Hard	Dominika Cibulková	6-7(3-7), 6-4, 4-6

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Legend Grand Slam tournaments (0-0) WTA Tour Championships (0-0) Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0-0) Premier (0-0) International (1-0)

Titles by surface Hard (1-0) Grass (0-0) Clay (0-0) Carpet (0-0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	16 January 2016	Hobart International, Hobart, Australia	Hard	Han Xinyun	Kimberly Birrell Jarmila Wolfe	6-3, 6-0

ITF finals (5-5)

Singles (2-2)

Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $15,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (1-1) Clay (1-1) Grass (0-0) Carpet (0-0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	22 October 2007	Itu, Brazil	Clay	Mailen Auroux	5-7, 2-6
Runner-up	2.	5 October 2009	Troy, United States	Hard	Alison Riske	4-6, 6-2, 5-7
Winner	1.	5 June 2011	Rome, Italy	Clay	Ekaterina Lopes	6-2, 6-4
Winner	2.	31 January 2016	Maui, United States	Hard	Raveena Kingsley	6-3, 4-6, 6-4

Doubles (3-3)

Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $15,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (1-2) Clay (2-1) Grass (0-0) Carpet (0-0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	May 29, 2007	Houston, United States	Hard	Kimberly Couts	Helen Besovic Nina Munch-Soegaard	6-7(2-7), 5-7
Winner	1.	October 15, 2007	Serra Negra, Brazil	Clay	Allie Will	Mailen Auroux Tatiana Búa	7-5, 6-3
Winner	2.	June 23, 2008	Wichita, United States	Hard	Sloane Stephens	Dominika Diešková Ana Clara Duarte	6-3, 6-2
Runner-up	2.	June 8, 2009	Szczecin, Poland	Clay	Asia Muhammad	Michaela Paštiková Lenka Tvarosková	1-6, 0-6
Winner	3.	May 31, 2010	Rome, Italy	Clay	Olivia Rogowska	Iryna Brémond Arantxa Rus	6-4, 6-1
Runner-up	3.	October 27, 2013	Poitiers, France	Hard (i)	Monica Niculescu	Lucie Hradecká Michaëlla Krajicek	6-7(5-7), 2-6

Grand Slam performance timeline

Singles

Only Main Draw results in WTA Tour are considered. This table is current through the 2014 French Open.

Tournament	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	SR	W-L
Australian Open	1R	LQ	1R	3R	1R	2R	2R	1R	0 / 7	4-7
French Open	A	1R	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R		0 / 6	2-6
Wimbledon	A	A	2R	3R	2R	1R	2R		0 / 5	5-5
US Open	2R	1R	3R	1R	3R	2R	1R		0 / 7	6-7
Win-Loss	1-2	0-2	3-4	6-4	3-4	2-4	2-4	0-1	0 / 24	17-24
Fed Cup
Singles	A	F	PO	PO	A	1R	PO		0 / 5	4-5
WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments
Indian Wells	A	1R	3R	4R	2R	1R	2R		0 / 6	7-6
Miami	LQ	LQ	LQ	2R	2R	2R	2R		0 / 4	4-4
Madrid	A	A	A	2R	2R	2R	2R		0 / 4	4-4
Beijing	A	A	2R	1R	A	1R	LQ		0 / 3	1-3
Win-Loss	0-0	0-1	3-2	5-4	3-3	2-3	3-3	0 / 16	16-16
WTA Premier 5 Tournaments
Dubai	A	A	A	Premier			A	Pr	0 / 0	0-0
Doha	Not Held		Premier	QF	3R	A	Pr		0 / 2	5-2
Rome	A	A	2R	2R	2R	3R	QF		0 / 5	8-5
Canada	A	A	A	3R	LQ	LQ	A		0 / 1	2-1
Cincinnati	A	3R	3R	1R	LQ	2R	1R		0 / 5	5-5
Tokyo	A	1R	2R	A	A	Pr			0 / 2	1-2
Wuhan	Not Held					1R	LQ		0 / 1	0-1
Career Statistics
Tournaments Played	2	9	20	21	15	21		88
Titles-Runners-up	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-1		0 / 88	0-1
Hardcourt Win-Loss	1-2	3-6	13-12	16-12	5-8			0 / 40	38-40
Clay Win-Loss	0-0	2-3	4-6	6-5	2-5			0 / 19	14-19
Grass Win-Loss	0-0	0-0	2-2	3-4	1-2			0 / 8	6-8
Carpet Win-Loss	0-0	3-1	0-0	0-0	0-0			0 / 1	3-1
Overall Win-Loss	1-2	8-10	19-20	25-21	8-15			0 / 68	61-68
Year End Ranking	218	115	42	33	68	54	64	$1,220,528

Doubles

Only Main Draw results in WTA Tour are considered. This table is current through the US Open.

Tournament	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	SR	W-L
Australian Open				1R	1R	1R	1R	0 / 4	0-4
French Open				2R	1R	1R		0 / 3	1-3
Wimbledon			3R	2R	2R	1R		0 / 4	4-4
US Open	1R	1R	1R		1R	2R		0 / 5	1-5
Win-Loss	0-1	0-1	2-2	2-3	1-4	1-4	0-1	0 / 16	6-16

[ Source: Wikipedia ]