Maria Sharapova vs. Ekaterina Makarova: Quarter-Final Preview – Australian Open 2012
First Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, heats up in Melbourne as it enters its last stages. Women’s singles quarter-final will take place on Wednesday; in an all-Russian affair, 56th ranked, Ekaterina Makarova
goes face-to-face with the former world number one, Maria Sharapova. The contest will be played at Rod Laver Arena and a mammoth crowd is expected to witness this encounter, as it is anticipated to be a classic clash of Russian titans.
It will be a breathtaking contest and both players have performed exceptionally well throughout the tournament. Makarova is the true rising star this year; her back-to-back upsets against the seventh seed, Vera Zvonareva in the
third round and tournament hot favourite, Serena Williams, in the fourth round clearly sets up the tempo for her to stun everyone with yet another major upset in the quarter-final. She also defeated the superior ranked Kaia Kanepi in the second round of the
tournament, so she is definitely in with a chance.
World number four, Sharapova, is almost unstoppable at her comeback to the professional tennis circuit. She was absolutely devastating against Gisela Dulko and Jamie Hampton during the first two rounds respectively; won the encounters
in straight sets. 30th ranked German, Angelique Kerber, was no match at all for the class of the Russian. Slender-legged Russian diva faced the first tough rival in the fourth round of the match and it was none other than the German tennis ace,
Sabine Lisicki. The Russian lost the first set, after starting with an exciting three games successful run but fought back with aggression and willpower to oust the German in an enthralling three-setter.
Huge fan following across the globe sets up the stage for the 24-years-old, Sharapova but she has to make sure that her compatriot doesn’t take an initial advantage in the match. If Makarova is able to sneak one or two early breaks
in the set, she is equipped with immense talent to hold on to her lead until the end of the set and frustrate her opponent by playing long rallies. She doesn’t have an aggressive game style and waits for a mistake from her opponent. This type of game style
sometimes backfires but for her, it is working perfectly fine at the moment.
Sharapova will look to dominate the proceedings, as she usually does, at the courts but she needs to mix up those aggressive forehand and backhand returns with drop shots as well. Makarova will be on the back foot throughout the
match and Sharapova can take advantage of it by forcing her to play around the net. 23-years-old, Makarova, is very comfortable playing from the edge of the court but faces a lot of trouble reaching for those brilliantly placed drop shots around the net.
I expect this match to last for three-sets with Sharapova winning the opening and closing encounters and Makarova fighting back in the midst of the battle. Makarova has a chance if her laid back approach fires but apart from that
Sharapova is definitely the hot favourite to win the contest.
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