Ekaterina Makarova overcomes Yanina Wickmayer in the opening round of the Mutua Madrid Open
Brilliant start for the 39th ranked Russian Ekaterina Makarova at the Mutua Madrid Open, as she won her opening round clash against the world number 22, Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium on Sunday, at the Park Manzanares in
Madrid, Spain. The strong Russian took down her opponent in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the second round of the $4,500,000 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) clay-court event.
The two women had met two years ago in the final of the Estoril Open, where Wickmayer stood victorious in straight sets and bagged the championship title. The Belgian failed to replicate that performance this time round and proved
to be a relatively weak opponent for Makarova.
The most dominant feature of the Russian’s game was her ballistic serve, ranging up to 72 per cent precision and firing 11 thudding aces in the contest. She committed just one double fault in the entire matchup, in contrast to
Wickmayer’s four costly ones. The Belgian tried to meet the aggression of her Russian opponent but took too many risks in the process, spilling a number of unforced errors. Her bleak serve also her down in the competition, so did her return game.
The crafty Russian amazingly clinched 33 out of 38 first serve points in the game and remained unbroken throughout. Makarova constructed five chances to break the opponent’s serve and converted just two of them, which proved sufficient
to outplay Wickmayer. She kept her error count to a minimum and kept winning crucial points on regularity.
The two contestants exchanged five aces each in the opener and delivered serve with identical accuracy. The Russian beat her opponent in terms of bagging serve points, as she captured 15 of 18 first serve points while breaking
her opponent once to reach set point at 5-4. Makarova had no difficulty in serving out of the first set at 6-4 and get one up in the contest.
The following set went along in the similar fashion as the opener, except Wickmayer conceded three expensive double faults. Six fiery aces from the Russian’s racquet exacerbated Wickmayer’s position in the game, as she was pushed
onto her back foot. Makarova then converted her third break chance to get into the lead once again. She held her serve to reach the match point at 5-4 and cashed in her first opportunity to seal the contest at 6-4 to book a berth in the second round of the
Mutua Madrid Open.
The Russian books a date with her fellow compatriot, the former world number one, Maria Sharapova in the second round of the tournament. Sharapova defeated the Dutch wildcard, Arantxa Rus in the opening round of the event.
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