Makarova Escapes Upset Bid in Charleston
Fresh off reaching a career high in the rankings, Russian Ekaterina Makarova had to come back from a set down to beat Zhang Shuai of China 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C.
Makarova moved up to eighth in the world rankings at the start of the week, the highest ranking she has had in her career.
The second-seeded Makarova got a strong test from Shuai, who fought back from a break down twice in the first set to win the opening frame 7-5 in 51 minutes.
Shuai would hold serve in the third game of the second set to take a 2-1 advantage, but Makarova took over from there. She rattled off 11 of the next 14 games to close out the win and move into the tournament’s third-round.
Makarova attributed her sluggish start to adjusting from hard courts to clay.
“It’s really tough to change from fast hard courts to clay,” said Makarova. “I just practiced here yesterday, and then I had my first match today, and it’s the first time I’m changing this fast from hard courts to clay. Before I would practice a couple weeks on clay before playing a tournament. Today was tough for me to understand because it’s just a really different game.”
In the third-round, Makarova will take on Irina-Camelia Begu. The Romanian knocked off Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 6-0, 6-7(4), 6-4 early Wednesday.
There were a couple of upsets early Wednesday as well. Montenegro Danka Kovinic, a qualifier, came back from a set down to oust 12th seed Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, while Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena took out ninth-seeded Samantha Stosur 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
American Madison Brengle won her match on Wednesday, advancing to the third-round with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Croatia’s Donna Vekic. Brengle’s compatriot Shelby Rogers did not fare as well as she was defeated by Spanish qualifier Sara Sorribes Tormo by a score of 7-5, 6-1.
