Makarova sets up Australian Open QF against Sharapova

Michelle Payne January 24, 2012 0

Makarova sets up Australian Open QF against Sharapova

MELBOURNE: Ekaterina Makarova of Russia put on display her sheer talent against former world number one Serena Williams and pulled up her socks to edge her out in a gruelling fourth round match of the Australian Open here Monday.

With the amazing victory over the US female tennis powerhouse, Ekaterina Makarova extended her dream run at the Australian Open and now she is pitted against her compatriot Maria Sharapova in the Quarter-Finals stage of the first grand slam tournament of the year.

Ekaterica Kakarova, world number 56, literally stunned Serna Williams in straight games as she raced to the elusive victory by 6-2 6-3.

Makarova, 23, had earlier sent packing Vera Zvonareva, a 7^th seeded at the Australian Open, before handing the best American female tennis player her worst ouster from the grand slam event down under.

Ekaterina Makarova had all the answers in her book for the fiery serves by Serena Williams as she was able to break her American opponent five times to outdo her advances towards the victory charge.

The next in line for Makarova is her countrywoman Maria Sharapova who defeated German Sabine Lisicki by 3-6 6-2 6-3 to reach the last-eight.

Since Makarova won her match before the Sharapova-Lisicki game, she was unaware of the opponent when she answered queries in the post-match press conference. When asked about her possible opponent in the quarter-final, Makarvoa said, “I will watch the game tonight. I played a couple times against Sharapova and a long time ago against Lisicki. They are great players. (But) I don’t want to think about the next match. I just want to enjoy this moment.”

Ekaterina Makarova said, “I didn’t play that good the second half of the year. In the end of the year, I lost six tournaments first round. That was last year. This is the new year, new feeling, new game. It’s different. I had a good holiday, didn’t think about tennis. And then I had a good preparation, practised so hard with my coach and my physical coach so I think that the results show that I worked hard.”

She said of her match against Serena, “I’m surprised because she’s a great player and it’s really tough to play against her, but I don’t know I just feel so good and so focused. So I played my game and that’s it. I won against Serena. That’s amazing.”