Ekaterina Makarova wins an exhausting and grueling match against Patricia Țig, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, after two and a half hours of tennis.
In the last match of the third day at the Transylvania Open, both players had physical issues, requiring medical consultation, but they continued to fight with all their strength. In the end, Makarova had more clarity and, after a match she will remember, secured her first qualification for a WTA quarterfinal.
Makarova, who came through the qualifiers, now has four consecutive wins in Cluj. In Romania, the Russian player is unbeaten in nine matches, including winning the ITF tournament in Slobozia a few weeks ago.
After two sets that mirrored each other, with each player excelling in turn, an exhausting deciding set followed. Makarova started the decider more inspired and built a lead that Patricia couldn’t recover from. Although she came close several times to equalizing, coming back from 0-3 to 2-3, Patricia no longer had enough freshness to complete the comeback.
Ekaterina Makarova’s next opponent will be determined from the match between Jaqueline Cristian and Eva Lys, which will take place on Thursday.
