2011 French Open: Ekaterina Makarova rallies past Romina Oprandi to advance into the second round
Russian Ekaterina Makarova battled past Italian Romina Oprandi in a three set thriller at 2011 Roland Garros, a major Grand Slam held on clay courts in Paris, France. She registered a 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 success to advance into the second
round on Tuesday.
22-year-old Makarova won for the first time in their third meeting against the Italian, three years older than her, in a three set mouth watering match to book a second round spot. The Italian fought back well and won the second
set but she stepped off gas in the final set to eventually exit from the opening round.
The Russian, who hasn’t had much progress this season, took control over her game at the right moment. She made quick in-roads as she registered an impressive 68 percent win on her slightly lower first serve share and converted
two out of ten breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to bag the set with a 6-4 win in sixty-four minutes. Makarova saved eight out of nine breakpoints faced and regardless of clobbering twenty-two unforced errors, she hammered twenty-one winners to help
win easily.
Ranked 82nd in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, Oprandi re-focused back in the game and earned an exceptional 65 percent win on her slightly lower first serve share. She saved three out of four breakpoints faced
and converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal the set by winning six games to three. The Italian, who was standing on a seven match losing streak at the start of the season, clobbered ten unforced errors to Russian’s seventeen
which made the difference.
Makarova, ranked 33rd in the world, got back on track in the decider and completely outshined the Italian in every department of tennis. She hit eleven winners and converted all three breakpoint opportunities to her
advantage to pocket a bagel in just twenty-one minutes. The Russian registered an awesome 83 percent win on her acceptable first serve share as opposed to Oprandi’s 25 percent.
Up next for the Russian is the Swede Johanna Larsson who upset a former world number one Anna Ivanovic in a three set thriller.
The 20th seeded Serb re-created her magic in the second set by earning a bagel and she fought well in the opening set which she dragged into the tie-breaker. However, she trailed in it and stepped off gas in the final
set to eventually exited from the opening round from this major tennis event.
Larsson on the other hand converted three out of eight breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to clinch the match with a 7-6(3), 0-6, 6-2 victory in 109 minutes.
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