LAHAINA >> It wasn’t the Australian Open, but the SportMaster Tennis Championships of Maui, which concluded Sunday, are usually as close as Hawaii tennis fans get.

This year is an exception, with the Fed Cup being played Saturday and Sunday at Holua in Kailua-Kona.

Christina McHale won’t be on the U.S. team this year, but at 23 she has time. Raveena Kingsley, the 17-year-old from Maryland who McHale outlasted to win the $50,000 women’s championship, also threw her racket in the ring with her performance at the Royal Lahaina Tennis Ranch.

McHale, ranked 24th in the world at one stage, was the women’s top seed on Maui at No. 65. She went three grueling sets to beat Brit Naomi Broady in Saturday’s semifinals, then barely held off Kingsley, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

“I’ve never played her before, but I’m sure I’ll be playing her a lot in the future because she’s got a really great game,” McHale said. “She just keeps going for her shots.”

McHale earned $7,600 — and 100 rankings points — with her victory.

Men’s winner

China’s Di Wu upset top-seeded Kyle Edmund 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to win the $50,000 men’s tournament. Wu’s first title was worth $7,200 and 80 rankings points.

Edmund, part of England’s winning Davis Cup team last year, is ranked 88th and Wu 243rd.

Both finals lasted nearly 21⁄2 hours. McHale won the final four games and Wu the last three, fighting off two break points at the end.

“Last tournament before Chinese New Year,” he grinned. “I have to fight.”

The men followed the women in a USTA Pro Circuit doubleheader that grew gustier by the hour. The circuit helped introduce Andy Roddick and James Blake to the world when they won Waikoloa Challengers nearly 15 years ago.

McHale re-introduced herself, in a rare Challenger appearance designed to get her more matches. She lost just 12 games heading into the semis, but Kingsley’s onslaught forced her to find the form that helped topple top-10 players Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka.

“She made it extremely difficult for me,” McHale said of Kingsley. “She had an extremely aggressive game. If I didn’t get the ball deep enough she was attacking.

“I was really happy I hung in there, especially in that third set. I was down a break and things were not going my way, but I was happy I just fought and stayed in there and took my chances when I got them at the end.”

Tough battle

Kingsley, No. 602 in the WTA rankings, introduced herself loudly on Maui by taking out two seeded players and giving No. 1 all she could handle. Her aggressive baseline game was similar to McHale’s.

So was her tenacity.

The two needed 10 minutes and six deuces to play the first game. It was 2-all after 25 minutes, then McHale zeroed in on her serve and Kingsley started to act her age with a sudden flurry of errors.

Two more aces gave McHale the opening game in the second set, but a pair of double faults inspired Kingsley to get precocious again. She broke McHale’s serve in the third game, on the way to a 4-1 lead, then held off a furious rally.

The 17-year-old was up 4-2 in the final set before McHale’s relentlessness — and spectacular ability to not only run balls down but do something with them — finally finished her.

“Long matches,” said McHale, who has reached the third round in every major, “are my thing.”

Wu too. The 24-year-old from Shanghai let a 3-1 lead get away in the opening set against Edmund, who won Challenger titles in Hong Kong, Buenos Aires and the U.S. last year.

“I lost mental energy,” Wu explained.

It would not happen again, in the second or third set.

“I just tried to be determined and relax,” said Wu, the first man from China to play in the Australian Open. “I am very happy to get my first win.”

Especially in Hawaii.

“Everything here is beautiful and nice people, nice court,” he said. “I’ve never been here. I wanted to try it. I will remember it all my life now.”

Doubles winners

In the doubles finals on Saturday, Jason Jung and American Denis Novikov defeated Frank Moser and Alex Bolt 6-3, 4-6, 10-8, and top-seeded Asia Muhammad and Maria Sanchez won another tiebreak final, over Jessica Pegula and Taylor Townsend, 6-2, 3-6, 10-6. All four women’s finalists were from the U.S.

Hawaii hosts its first Fed Cup this weekend at Holua. Venus Williams anchors an American team that also includes Sloane Stephens, CoCo Vandeweghe and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

They take on a Polish team of Magda Linette, Paula Kania, Alicja Rosolska and playing captain Klaudia Jans-Ignacik. Kania lost to McHale in the Maui quarterfinals and Linette fell in the second round.

The winning team advances to the World Group Playoffs.