Ekaterina Makarova outplays Jelena Dokic in round one – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Russian professional, Ekaterina Makarova, outfoxed the former world number nine, Jelena Dokic, in the opening round clash of the Sony Ericsson Open on Tuesday. She dumped her in straight sets 6-1, 7-5 to march into the second round
of the tournament.
It was a straight forward encounter for the Russian who was in emphatic run of form in the recent past. The misery for the 119th ranked Aussie was doubled when she placed a look at her recent results; just three wins
in ten games. It clearly defined her struggle this year.
The opening set started miserably for the Aussie starlet who went a break down in the second game and was further crushed to a 3-0 trail. She registered the first serve hold in the fourth game but that was the only thing she could
clasp from the set.
Makarova held her serve in the fifth game and broke serve in the sixth game to take an unassailable lead of 5-1. Dokic was struggling with her first serves and hardly managed a commanding position in any stages of the set. She
witnessed another comprehensive serve hold for the Russian who went on take a set lead.
Dokic started the second set and once again was broken in the opening game. It was critical for her to break her opponent’s serve and stay in the hunt for a classic comeback. Her efforts were rewarded in the sixth game when she
registered her first breakthrough of the match and level the scores at 3-3.
A flurry of breakpoints at both ends of the court moved the scores to 6-5 in favour of the Russian who was getting prepared to serve for the match. Five breakthroughs in the meantime were shared in the ratio of 3:2 to Makarova
who just spared one point for the Aussie player before progressing into the second round of the tournament.
Ekaterina Makarova will take on her compatriot, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in the next round. The 19th seed Russian received a first round Bye, so she is yet to open her account in Miami. It will be an enthralling battle
to say the least.
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