Makarova upsets Halep, Sharapova Breezes Past Bouchard at Australian Open

Makarova upsets Halep, Sharapova Breezes Past Bouchard at Australian Open

  • Posted: Jan 27, 2015

makarova1 Makarova upsets Halep, Sharapova Breezes Past Bouchard at Australian Open

 

The men’s draw at the 2015 Australian Open was not the only one to feature surprising upsets that included bagel sets. In fact, the first major upset of the day took place on Rod Laver Arena, when Simona Halep won a total of 4 games to find herself prematurely ejected from the tournament at the hands of Ekaterina Makarova.

First on court that day was Halep and Makarova, which lasted just over an hour, and ended in surprisingly dominant fashion. It was a complete blowout, as the Russian won the match 6-4, 6-0 in just 1 hour and 9 minutes. While she did not play a fantastic match, it was Halep who played well below her regular standard.

“I practiced very well in the morning, but maybe I was a little bit too stressed before I started the match. I had a bad day,” Halep said in her presser. “But she played well and everything was going in for her, so she deserves to win. I’m really sad I couldn’t play my best tennis today, but that’s tennis.”

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Makarova will next come up against arguably the most successful Russian competitor in the history of the sport, Maria Sharapova. The second seed reached the semi-final stage of the tournament with a straightforward win against Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard. She closed out the match 6-3, 6-2 to edge closer to her sixth Grand Slam title.

“I knew I had to play a really complete match,” Sharapova said in her post-match interview. “She’s someone who really goes after it and goes after her strokes, so I knew that the second and third balls would be really important. I knew I had to take time away from her and be aggressive – I wanted to get in the rallies a little bit, but I also wanted to do something on my own first few shots today.”