Monica Puig watched her game get picked apart at the Mexican Open Thursday afternoon. The number four seed fell under the skills of fifth seeded Christina McHale who returned to the semifinals for a third time winning 6-2, 6-2 on Grand Stand Caliente at the Fairmont Acapulco Princess Hotel.
This was the first time in seven years that the world number 42 and 45 have met since playing in ITF tournaments. The American had a rough outing but still won in straight sets. The reigning Olympic gold medalist appeared her in second quarterfinal at the tournament hoping to reach a new personal best. McHale has been through the whole nine yards nearly winning it back in 2014. Gaining a good start against the Puerto Rican would determine the action she would find on court with a semifinal spot on the line.
Puig made a comeback during her opening service from 0-30 to win it with four points in a row. McHale answered once more producing a win and the notion of her intent to break the 23-year-old power hitter. It turned into a break for the American who had accurate shots on the rallies that enabled her to dictate the third. Though it took a lot of fight from McHale, she took another big step forward scoring a victory after three breaks on deuce.
The American turned the set into a runaway seeming to have a lock on Puig who couldn’t pull off the responses necessary to turn the tide. It soon led to a 5-1 hold for McHale with Puig serving to either drop the set or somehow turn things around. The Puerto Rican managed to pull off a win in the seventh but it all came to a halt as her serve fell under the pressure handing McHale a set win through two breaks concluding 38 minutes. The first serve percentage from the 24-year-old helped force the errors across court leading her to win 17 of 23 points.
The second set began with Puig needing to win on her serve followed by a way to defend on the American. A solid hold was the answer she had for the fourth seed denying her an early break in the second. The hold of serve continued giving Puig a reason to keep fighting till she could find a moment to go for the push ahead. The fifth seed blasted out a love service in the fourth in her attempts to switch her offense into a gear and set things her way. The fifth was her move to the break smashing big on the rallies that had Puig on the ropes.
It was a 4-2 run for the American who looked to have everything going her way to surpass the fourth seed. Unforced errors were being racked up by Puig who seemed to lose all hope of a comeback playing with what skills she had left. McHale needed one last game to put a semifinal spot into perspective having a run that was close to perfection. She cruised to victory as the final offense of Puig’s backhand fell under the pressure to hand the American a straight sets win ending 70 minutes of play.
While Puig had the edge on the first serve percentage, her overall performance was well below her own standards. She had 14 unforced errors through 16 games that also led to her demise. While she prepares for the Indian Wells Masters next week, McHale would await her semifinal opponent between Kristina Mladenovic and Kirsten Flipkens on Friday.
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