CARLSBAD, Calif. . -- U.S. Olympian Christina McHale saved a set point, then used a late service break to pull out a 7-6 (5), 7-5 win over Jarmila Gajdosova in the first-round of the Mercury Insurance Open on Tuesday. McHale, the No. 5 seed, struggled against the Australian, and both players held serve late into each set. But McHale took advantage of Gajdosovas mistakes to claim the tiebreak and hit some late winners to claim the victory. "It wasnt easy out there," said McHale, who pulled out of Stanford last week with a sinus infection. "Jarmila played really well, especially served really well. I was just happy to be able to pull that one out." Eighth-seeded Chanelle Scheepers beat hometown favourite CoCo Vandeweghe 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the night match. Vandeweghe, from nearby Rancho Santa Fe, was coming off a loss to Serena Williams at Stanford on Sunday. The 20-year-old, who received a wild card for this event, didnt come close to duplicating last weeks effort. Scheepers swept through the first set as a frustrated Vandeweghe had trouble with her groundstrokes and double-faulted to give the South African an early break. "I played every ball and made her work hard to win the points," Scheepers said. "She was hitting some really big balls and I was trying to keep the points going and make her hit some extra balls." With the score tied at 5 in the second set, the players traded service breaks to force a tiebreak. Scheepers got a mini-break to start the tiebreak then broke again for a 5-4 lead and served out the match when Vandeweghe hit a backhand long. Earlier, No. 7 seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium dropped the first set 7-6 (6) to qualifier Yung-Jan Chan of Taiwan before retiring with a lower back injury. The 20-year-old McHale was trailing 5-4 in the second set when she saved a set point with an ace. McHale then used the first service break to take a 6-5 lead. McHale, playing in her first tournament since losing in the third round at Wimbledon, advanced on her first match point when Gajdosova hit a backhand into the net. "I just kept fighting," McHale said. "All of the games were close and she was playing really well, so it was tough." The players were on serve in the first set before Gajdosova broke through in the 11th game with two great service returns for winners. But McHale broke right back to force the tiebreak. Trailing 5-4 in the tiebreak, Gajdosova dumped an easy approach shot into the net, and McHale finished off the set two points later when Gajdosova hit a forehand into the net. In other first-round matches, American Vania King defeated Kai-Chen Chang of Taiwan 6-1, 6-4; Marina Erakovic of New Zealand beat Anne Keothavong of Great Britain 6-4, 6-0; Heather Watson of Great Britain ousted Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 6-3, 6-3; and Melinda Czink of Hungary beat qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. [url=http://www.buccaneersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-josh-freeman-jersey-... Freeman Jersey . U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan also said the season-long suspension of Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma was excessive and that she would be inclined to rule in his favour if she were certain she had jurisdiction to do so. . -- Former CFL player and coach Joe Paopao has been named interim head coach of the Waterloo Warriors. [url=http://www.buccaneersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-ahmad-black-jersey-n... . Spencer Watson scored a hat trick as Ontario cruised to an 11-1 victory over Atlantic on Tuesday, while Alexis Pepin had two goals including the game winner as Quebec edged Slovakia 3-2. [url=http://www.buccaneersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-jeff-demps-jersey-ct... Demps Jersey . 4 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland moved her Australian Open preparation into high gear when she beat Belgiums Yanina Wickmayer 6-4, 6-4 to win the ASB Classic, her 11th career title. . The Blue Jays (70-89) will need a sweep of the Twins (66-93) to stave off 90 losses for the first time since 2004, when Toronto went 67-94. Aaron Laffey will get the ball for Toronto.Great Britains mens four defended its Olympic title in rowings top rivalry on Day 8, winning gold and continuing their Olympic reign for a fourth-straight Olympic Games. In one of the most highly-anticipated races of the London 2012 Olympic regatta, the crew from Great Britain led the way to hold off the Australian crew and keep their Olympic title on home soil. Australia won silver, and the United States won bronze. Great Britain and Australia have long dominated the podium in the mens four event, with both nations concentrating their top rowers in the crews. Great Britain has claimed Olympic gold in the event since Sydney 2000, when they stole gold from the home team Australia. [url=http://www.buccaneersofficialteamstore.com/autographed-davin-joseph-jersey-... Joseph Jersey. Although Drew Ginn--who was part of the original Australian Oarsome Foursome of the 1990s--was confident that the crew could pull off the upset in front of Britains home crowd, they fell short. With 500 metres to go, the three top crews entered what has been named "the wall of noise" at Eton Dorney; that was all Great Britain needed to surge ahead for a firm grasp on the victory, as the crowd noise lifted them to the line. More to come. ' ' '