Christina McHale was the story of the opening day of the Australian Open after she recovered from a serious bout of vomiting to win a mammoth first-round encounters.
The American world No 54 was overcome by illness during her match against Stephanie Foretz of France, and finally gave in to the urge to throw up with the match delicately poised at 4-4 in the final set, a moment which was broadcast in all its slow-motion glory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgk6JZMmLwU
McHale bounced back to win an epic battle 12-10 in the decider and now faces unseeded German Carina Witthoeft.
‘I realised I hadn’t been feeling well, and finally I knew it was coming up,’ McHale said. ‘I felt so much better after it happened. I don’t know what caused it. I was more just embarrassed that it took so long to clean up.’
Elsewhere, it was a day of upsets in the women’s draw, with half of the seeds in the bottom half of the draw falling at the first hurdle. The biggest casualty of the day was fifth seed Ana Ivanovic, who admitted anxiety got the better of her as she served ten double faults while tumbling out at the hands of Czech Lucie Hradecka.
Ninth seed Angelique Kerber also crashed out in three sets to Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu, but there were comfortable victories for second seed Maria Sharapova, world No.3 Simona Halep and Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard of Canada.
In the men’s draw, local boy Thanasi Kokkinakis provided the highlight, or highlighter, mainly because it looked like that was how he’d chosen his kit.
Whether or not his neon outfit was a source for inspiration, the 18-year-old nonetheless flashed his potential in a come-from-behind win over 11th seed Ernests Gulbis. The teenager saved four match points en route to a 5-7, 6-0, 1-6, 7-6 (2), 8-6 triumph.
In contrast to the women’s draw, however, there were no other surprises, with straight sets wins for Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.
