Makarova stuns Wozniacki at Wimbledon

Caroline Wozniacki is the fifth top-eight seed to depart the women’s singles tournament at Wimbledon after falling in a drama-filled three-set match to Ekaterina Makarova.

The Russian, a former top 10 player, ousted the second seed 6-4 1-6 7-5 on her sixth match point to reach the third round.

It was her second straight win over the Dane at a Grand Slam event; Makarova was also victorious in three sets in the second round of the US Open in 2017.

Wozniacki, the reigning Australian Open champion, joins fellow seeds Sloane Stephens (4), Elina Svitolina (5), Caroline Garcia (6) and Petra Kvitova (8), plus five-time major winner Maria Sharapova, on the sidelines.

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“It’s frustrating because I feel like I could have gone and done something really great here,” a despondent Wozniacki said.

“When I look at the draw, there’s 90 per cent of everyone else I would have played today, I feel like I would have won. The last 10 per cent I feel like I would have had a chance or a good chance.

“Sometimes it just doesn’t go your way.”

As the reigning Eastbourne champion, Wozniacki is the latest player to bomb out of The Championships after an impressive lead-up on grass. Fellow Eastbourne champ Mischa Zverev exited the men’s event as did Borna Coric, the Halle champion. Kvitova was the winner in Birmingham. Richard Gasquet fell in the first round after winning in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Makarova will next play Lucie Safarova after the former world No.5 scored a minor upset win over 32nd seed Agnieszka Radwanska, a former world No.2 and 2012 Wimbledon finalist.

That’s a juicy little wedge of the draw right there. #wimbledon pic.twitter.com/zXBbK14zpF

— Matt Trollope (@MattyAT) July 4, 2018

Makarova smacked 46 winners to Wozniacki’s 23, bossing the second seed around No.1 Court. She looked set to record a far more comfortable victory when she surged to a 5-1 lead in the final set.

But Wozniacki, who saved two match points in digging herself out of a 1-5 hole in the second round of the Australian Open against Jana Fett, looked set to perform another miraculous escape act.

She broke serve in the seventh game for 2-5, held for 3-5, and from 40-0 down in the next game saved three match points, and then another, against an increasingly wobbly Makarova.

When she held to love in the following match, Wozniacki had locked scores up at 5-5.

To her credit, Makarova stopped herself from being overwhelmed with negative emotions and continued to hit out.

Two games later, a fifth match point came and went before she finally sealed victory on her sixth with a backhand drive volley winner.

“For her to keep this level, I would be very surprised if you saw her go far,” Wozniacki said, somewhat uncharitably.

“I really did what I could. It just wasn’t enough. Today I played someone who played extremely well. As I said, I don’t know that she would be able to keep up this level for the rest of the tournament.”

That remains to be seen. Makarova is, after all, a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist and reached the quarters at Wimbledon in 2015.

“I hope that that level is coming back because already for a couple of years I couldn’t really find that game, those emotions, some like (mentality) during the match. Maybe my doubles also a little bit helped me,” she said.

“I don’t know what to say – maybe I was lucky today. Good for me (laughter). Thanks God that I was a little bit lucky!

“I think I like that kind of big tournaments, the Grand Slams, the Olympics. I definitely have a different motivation, different emotions to fight. Ready to die to win the match. I don’t know why it’s happening like this and not at the smaller tournaments – I don’t have that kind of feeling. But yeah. I like the big tournaments (laughter).”

Makarova now 15-29 against top-5 opposition…hence why she will always be considered very dangerous.

— Ravi Ubha (@raviubha) July 4, 2018