Ekaterina Makarova shocked Caroline Wozniacki in the second round at Wimbledon, winning 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 despite squandering chance after chance to seal the upset.
Makarova built a 5-1 lead in the final set, where she had 30-30 on her serve, then raced to a 40-0 lead on her serve two games later. She failed to convert all three of those match points, plus another when she drilled a forehand into the net with a fully open court in front of her. She double faulted shortly thereafter to hand Wozniacki her second break back.
She finally rebounded to hold her serve at 5-5, then raced to a 0-40 lead in the No. 2 seed’s service game. Wozniacki saved one with a powerful serve up the T, but Makarova finally capitalized on her sixth match point, depositing a powerful volley into an empty corner for the stunning upset.
Wozniacki, who won at Eastbourne last week, remains without a single quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon. She becomes the fifth top-8 seed to lose already.
After storming from behind, the defending Australian Open champion appeared not to be yet another early upset victim. She found another gear when facing Makarova’s first match points, lost just one point on the two service games that followed her breaks and seemed poised to mount another comeback in the final game.
It was a remarkably sharp turnaround from earlier in the match. Makarova hit too-powerful forehands that sailed long as Wozniacki placed tricky balls deep into the court, allowing the Dane to break twice and race to a 5-0 lead in the second set. She closed out the set easily, appearing fully in control as the final set began.
Wozniacki faced break points on her opening service game there, but fended them off through a poor Makarova return and a powerful serve. She used strong serving to dig out from 0-30 in her next service game, but the Russian forced a break point and Wozniacki hit wide to give Makarova the advantage.
She briefly rolled from there, winning four straight games before her collapse began. She necessitated a third set thanks to similarly strong play at the very start of the match, where she easily broke Wozniacki in the opening game, secured another break and held on with deft net play.
The Russian played a more aggressive match, firing 45 winners and seven aces. She saved a poor one of six break points she faced, but the 30-year-old, ranked 35th, managed to convert the one she needed to secure the victory.
