EKATERINA MAKAROVA ENJOYS SMASHING SUCCESS IN US OPEN QUARTERS
Mary Joe Fernandez and Brad Gilbert break down Ekaterina Makarova's performance in her win over Victoria Azarenka at the US Open.
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NEW YORK -- Until she smashed her racket in frustration late in Wednesday's US Open quarterfinal, Victoria Azarenka was uncharacteristically quiet on court, and her usually soft-spoken opponent Ekaterina Makarova was the one making her presence known.
But even after Azarenka's display of frustration, it was the 26-year-old Makarova, with her relentlessly solid groundstrokes, who made the definitive final statement with a 6-4, 6-2 victory to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal.
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Playing in her 29th Grand Slam and eighth US Open, Ekaterina Makarova advanced to her first semifinal.
"Before maybe I didn't believe that much that I can [come] through. Today definitely was a different feeling, and I really believed to myself that I'm ready to go forward and to be in the semis," said Makarova, who will next meet the winner of Wednesday night's Serena Williams-Flavia Pennetta quarterfinal. "Maybe I've grown up a little bit or maybe I'm ready for big wins just in my head."
Azarenka's press agent, Benito Perez-Barbadillo, said a sushi dinner late Monday night made the 2012 and '13 US Open finalist sick all night Monday and during the day Tuesday, preventing her from practicing Tuesday.
"She couldn't even keep down water [Tuesday]," Perez-Barbadillo said.
Clearly Azarenka was not herself Wednesday. But given that she was a questionable entry into the Open with a knee injury, and that she had won four consecutive matches for the first time since the Australian Open, when a foot injury led to her playing just eight matches in the next seven months, a final eight finish was encouraging.
"I don't really want to talk about it," she said of her stomach ailment. "I just want to give credit to my opponent. She played really well today. Am I disappointed? Yes, I'm disappointed. But I feel like I tried my best with whatever I had. I just want to wish her good luck. That's it. I'm out of the tournament."
Azarenka bristled when asked about the "luck" she has had this year.
"It's not luck. It's nothing," she said. "It's just circumstances that you have to deal with and something that comes up and you deal with it. ... Can I play better? Absolutely. Will I doubt that I can play on a higher level? No chance. Nobody will tell me what I can or I cannot do."
Evidently, the same applied Wednesday to Makarova, whose breakthrough victory came after four previous Grand Slam quarterfinals, including this year's Wimbledon, where she lost to Lucie Safarova.
Makarova blushed when asked to talk about herself.
"Well, you know, it's tough to say something about yourself," she said with a shy grin. "I think I'm trying to stay in the shade, a little bit, to be in my world. I'm not using that much like social networks. Yeah, I can say that I'm maybe closed a little bit. But I'm really enjoying to play on the big stage, the big courts with all this crowd. I'm feeling differently than in other places."
Makarova, also into the doubles semifinals here with partner Elena Vesnina after eliminating the Williams sisters in the quarters, hasn't dropped a set in five singles matches.
Jerry Lai/USA TODAY Sports
Victoria Azarenka left the court with 27 unforced errors, six double-faults and at least one broken racket.
Against Azarenka, Makarova lost just five points on her first serve and broke Azarenka's serve four times while being broken just once, consistently pinning her opponent to the baseline and keeping her off-balance in an efficient 1-hour, 27-minute match. She won 11 of the last 14 points.
"I think she was really solid," Azarenka said. "She did serve really well, especially in the important moments. I think it gave her a lot of opportunities to make winners and everything. But even though I felt like I still had chances, I just didn't really play selective and the right tennis at the right moment. But she definitely stepped it up. She was really consistent."
Makarova, who knocked out Eugenie Bouchard in the fourth round, is trying to become the first left-handed US Open women's champion since Monica Seles in 1992.
Makarova trails her series with Williams 3-1 and is tied 1-1 with Pennetta. Azarenka, who came into the year ranked No. 2 in the world and will fall out of the top 20 when the next rankings are released, probably will not be watching.
"Of course it is disappointing," Azarenka said of not being in the final for the first time since 2011. "It's not about that you have been two times in the final before that's going to make it better. It just is what it is today. It's not the end of the world. It's something I can take positive from this tournament, you know. Two months ago I didn't even think that I was going to be able to play today. ...
"I have been working really hard. I know that's going to pay off. So today is just one of the days that I have to go through, and I'm going to go through it."
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