McHale suffers stage fright in loss

Christina McHale looked the part of the up-and-comer U.S. women's tennis could use in her second-round upset of eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli, but when she took the big stage for the Friday night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium against Maria Kirilenko, McHale looked like the awkward 19-year-old from New Jersey that she is.

McHale's serve deserted her in the first set, and just when she seemed to have climbed back into the match in the second set, a double fault cracked her thin veneer of confidence and sent her on the way to a 6-2, 6-3 loss. There was no denying she lost the battle with stage fright.

"It didn't really help my nerves tonight," McHale said of the prime-time TV showcase. "I never really felt as comfortable as I wanted to feel on the court . . . It's still new for me, playing on such a big stage. I think it will help me in the long run, though."

McHale showed some spunk. After falling behind 5-1 in the opening set, she was down 40-love but came back to break Kirilenko's serve. However, the 25th-seeded Kirilenko broke right back to take the set. McHale, who put only 62 percent of her first serves in play, steadied in the second set. She trailed 4-3, but was on serve with a game point to even the set when she double faulted to go to deuce. Kirilenko won the next two points for the break and served out the match.

"It's unfortunate," McHale said of the double fault. "That game was crucial. If I had won, it would have been 4-all, and who knows what could have happened . . . I didn't have a good serving night. That made it really tough to hold serve and try to get ahead at some point."

McHale wasn't the only young American woman to struggle. Irina Falconi was mowed down by 22nd-seeded Sabine Lisicki, 6-0, 6-1. The German has had a strong summer and looks like a possibility to upset second-seeded Vera Zvonareva, who moved into the fourth round with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Medina Garrigues. The only seeded woman to be upset was No. 27 Lucie Safarova, who fell to Monica Niculescu, 6-0, 6-1.