WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—Christina McHale of the United States reached the third round at a fourth consecutive Grand Slam tournament.
Now comes the hard part: Trying to make it to the fourth round, something she's never done.
The 28th-seeded McHale, a 20-year-old from Englewood Cliffs, N.J., struggled a bit to close out her 7-5, 7-5 second-round victory over Mathilde Johansson of France on Thursday.
It was weird: The first and second sets went exactly the same. I am still not finding my best tennis consistently over the two matches I have played,'' McHale said.I was just staying in there, taking advantage when she does make some unforced errors and then just staying with it when she is playing really well. I still feel I can be a lot more offensive.''
Next up for the American is a match against eighth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany.
``I'm going to have to return her lefty serve well, try and take advantage when I can, and not let her be dictating,'' McHale said.
The American got some compliments Thursday from 13-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, who was asked about McHale and called her ``so tough; she has a great game.''