Ekaterina Makarova is in the quarter-finals of the 2015 Citi Open after a straight sets win over Naomi Broady.

The British qualifier, ranked outside the top 200, put up a good fight, but she narrowly lost out in the end as Makarova came through as the winner by a 6-4 7-6 scoreline.

One break is enough for Makarova in set number one

Makarova was surely not expecting as tough a test as she got today against Broady, but the underdog was sharp from the off as she won the first game of the match, her service game, to love.

A break point followed when Makarova served for the first time, but the Russian was able to hold on before her opponent again pulled another love service game out of the bag.

It looked as if the Brit was going to be able to really threaten as she continued to put pressure on the top seed and comfortably keep her at bay, but, after taking Makarova to deuce in the previous game, Broady would be broken to love midway through the first set as she went 4-3 down.

Unable to break back despite a spirited response in the following game, the woman ranked 212th in the world lost the first set 6-4, with Makarova taking it on her second set point.

Tiebreak required in the second and final set

One may have expected Makarova to run away with the match from here, but Broady, who defeated Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia in round one, continued to be a nuisance, serving well again in the second set.

The Russian posed a threat in game number three when she saw a break point, but the Brit held on before the match settled down and neither player really threatened to break their opponent. Unsurprisingly, this led to a tiebreak, despite Broady coming close to breaking when Makarova served to stay in the second set.

The top seed dominated this exchange, earning a mini-break immediately before consolidating it with two strong points. Broady continued to try and keep the match alive, but it was from her point that Makarova earned her first chance to seal victory and on her point on which she did so, winning the tiebreak by a score of 7-2.

Begu next up

Makarova faces her first seeded opponent of the tournament in the next round, the quarter-finals, as she comes up against Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu, the sixth seed in Washington and the world number 37.

Begu defeated Polona Hercog of Slovakia in round two and the American Madison Brengle in the round prior, whilst Makarova has already overcome two tough players in Broady and Alison Van Uytvanck, the latter a quarter-finalist at this year's French Open.

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About the author
Amee Ruszkai
Head of the Sunderland, Swansea City and women football sections at VAVEL UK. Email: [email protected]