Simona Halep showed character in her second-round encounter with Mariana Duque-Mariño, battling back from a set down to win, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday. The top-seeded Romanian needed one hour and 40 minutes to record the victory and in the process reach her eighth quarterfinal of the season.
Waiting in the last eight for Halep is the talented Ekaterina Makarova. This will be the fifth meeting between the two stars in the WTA Tour with Halep currently holding an impressive 3-1 advantage. For Halep to extend her dominance against Makarova, she needs to continue her strong return play in the quarterfinals. She won 49 percent of her receiving points in the second round against Duque-Mariño with the world no. 2 converting seven of her nine break point chances.
Ekaterina Makarova barged into the quarterfinals of the 2017 Citi Open with a convincing 6-2, 6-4 victory over Monica Puig on Wednesday. It was an impressive showing from the seventh-seeded Russian, who needed one hour and 32 minutes to eliminate the 2016 Olympic gold medalist. Just like in her previous match against Jamie Loeb, Makarova’s serve was the main difference once again. She won 79 percent of her first serve points in the straight-sets win against Puig.
Makarova will look to continue her excellent form in the round of 16 when she takes on the in-form Simona Halep. Yes, she’s just 1-3 against Halep in their head-to-head matchup but her lone victory against the world no. 2 came at the hallowed grounds of Melbourne Park. Makarova defeated Halep in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Australian Open, 6-4, 6-0. Makarova’s return was exceptional in that contest and she will need that same kind of receiving performance this coming Friday for her to upset Halep. The good news for Makarova is that she’s doing quite well in that department in this tournament. She won 46 percent of her receiving points in the win against Puig with Makarova winning four of her six break point opportunities.
