Ekaterina Makarova

Makarova caused an upset in the first round of the Australian Open when she defeated 19th seed Ana Ivanovic. It took three sets and 2 hours and 47 minutes. She then went on to defeat qualifier Lesia Tsurenko, and caused another upset by beating 13th seed Nadia Petrova. Makarova's career-best run at a Grand Slam tournament was ended in the fourth round by 3rd seed and champion Kim Clijsters. At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Makarova upset defending champion María José Martínez Sánchez in the first round, but lost to eventual champion Maria Sharapova. Makarova would reach the fourth round of the French Open before losing to 4th seed Victoria Azarenka. She lost her openers at Wimbledon and the US Open to Christina McHale and Maria Kirilenko respectively.

Makarova at best could reach the second round of any tournament this season. One of her best result that season was beating World No. 7 Jelena Ostapenko at the 2018 Sydney International. She rebounded at Wimbledon, reaching the 4th Round after beating Petra Martic, 2nd-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and 2015 French Open finalist Lucie Safarova all in three sets, before falling to Camila Giorgi in the fourth round in straight sets.

As of August 2017, Makarova is one of just two left-handed players (the other being Angelique Kerber) to have ever beaten Serena Williams in a Grand Slam match, doing so at the 2012 Australian Open.

Makarova defeated 16th seed Maria Kirilenko at the Mutua Madrid Open in the second round before losing to Lucie Hradecká in the third round. At Rome, she defeated Francesca Schiavone before losing to Venus Williams in the second round. At the French Open, she lost to Sloane Stephens in the first round.

In January, Makarova took a break in doubles and started the 2016 season in the Premier tournaments Brisbane and Sydney, reaching the second round and quarterfinals, respectively. In the Australian Open, she reached the fourth round and lost there to Johanna Konta in a very tight match.

At the 2015 French Open, Makarova matched her best result at the tournament when she reached the fourth round, as she did in 2011. With a chance to complete her set of having reached at least the quarterfinals at all four Majors, she lost to former champion Ana Ivanovic in three sets, and thus failed to reach her first French Open quarterfinal.

Makarova began 2014 at the Apia International, where she caused an upset by defeating 4th seed Jelena Janković in the first round. She lost to Carla Suárez Navarro in the next round. Then, she reached the fourth round of the Australian Open for the third consecutive time but lost to eventual champion Li Na. In the doubles event, she and Elena Vesnina reached the final, where they lost to Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. Makarova won her second title at the PTT Pattaya Open by defeating Czech Karolína Plíšková. In Dubai, she beat Alisa Kleybanova in the opening round. She then lost to world no. 1 Serena Williams.

Being a left-handed player, she is particularly comfortable hitting backhands in the deuce court, with several of her winners coming from that side. During the 2014 Rogers Cup, Agnieszka Radwańska repeatedly targeted Makarova's forehand in the ad court, occasionally exposing it as a vulnerability.

Makarova and Vesnina became runners-up at Wimbledon, losing to Hingis and Mirza in three sets, after leading 5–3 in the last set. In singles, Makarova surprisingly lost to Magdaléna Rybáriková in the second round.

Makarova began her season at the Brisbane International. She lost in the first round to Misaki Doi 6–7, 4–6. However, in doubles, she and Elena Vesnina reached the final, losing the match to Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Sania Mirza 2–6, 3–6. In the first Grand Slam tournament, the Russians reached the quarterfinals. At the St. Petersburg Open she lost in the first round to doubles partner Vesnina. In Dubai she could reach the third round before losing to Lauren Davis. The doubles team, however, won the trophy by defeating Hlaváčková/Peng in three sets. After reaching the semifinals of the Indian Wells Masters, the duo had the chance to become the new number-one ranked doubles players if they had won the title, but they only reached the quarterfinals, suffering there an unpredictable loss to Gabriela Dabrowski/Xu Yifan, the eventual champion.

She and Vesnina won their third joint and individual Grand Slam doubles title in Wimbledon, crushing runners-up Hao-Ching Chan/Monica Niculescu, 6–0, 6–0. This was the first "double bagel" in the women's doubles tournament final since 1953. The Russian went on winning the Citi Open in singles, beating players as Olympic champion Puig and world No. 2 Simona Halep. In the finals she prevailed over Julia Görges, winning her third WTA singles title.

Makarova reached the third round at the Western & Southern Open after recording victories over Nadia Petrova and Anna Tatishvili before losing to Samantha Stosur. At the US Open, Makarova lost to Serena Williams in the 3rd round. She partnered with Brazilian Bruno Soares to win the mixed doubles competition, defeating Květa Peschke and Marcin Matkowski in three sets in the final. It was her first grand slam title of any kind. After that, she reached the semifinals at Seoul where she lost to eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki.

In 2010 Makarova continued her bad form in 2009, as she suffered first round loses at Brisbane International and Hobart International. In the Australian Open she lost to Sara Errani after defeating Virginie Razzano. She then failed to qualify in the Open GdF Suez and lost in the first round at Dubai as a qualifier. She also lost in the first round of BNP Paribas Open and the French Open, and the second round of Sony Ericsson Open. At the Aegon International, qualifier Makarova made it to the final without dropping a set. She triumphed over Victoria Azarenka in the final to earn her first WTA Tour title. Makarova defeated five top-20 players in the tournament, emerging victorious over No. 11 Flavia Pennetta, No. 13 Nadia Petrova, No. 20 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 7 Samantha Stosur, and No. 15 Victoria Azarenka. Makarova then made it to the second round at Wimbledon, but was beaten by 2nd seed Venus Williams. In the US Open, she was defeated by Ana Ivanovic in the first round.

Makarova got into the third round of the Rogers Cup, defeating 7th-seeded Johanna Konta en route but eventually losing to Lucie Safarova. She again reached third round at the Cincinnati Masters, crushing 3rd-seeded Kerber en route but losing to Sloane Stephens. Makarova thrice in a row defeated a top-10 in the second round of the US Open, 5th-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, for the first time in her career after seven losses in a row against her.

Makarova started the 2009 season with early losses in the first rounds of the Medibank International Sydney, the Open GDF Suez, and the Dubai Tennis Championships, and the second rounds of the Australian Open and the BNP Paribas Open. She reached her first WTA final in the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem with a win over Alisa Kleybanova and, without dropping a set leading up to the finals, she lost in a one-sided final to Anabel Medina Garrigues. She also reached the final of the Estoril Open defeating Maria Kirilenko and Anna-Lena Grönefeld en route but losing to Yanina Wickmayer.

Makarova began her 2007 season losing to Olga Blahotová, at Tampa, Florida. In Moscow she won the title with victories over Evgenia Grenbenyuk, and Evgeniya Rodina in the final. Makarova entered the qualifying draw for the French Open defeating Erika Takao but was defeated again by Ioana Raluca Olaru. Then, in Zagreb, she reached the semifinals, before losing to Kyra Nagy. Makarova then lost in qualifying for the Wimbledon Championships to Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová after defeating Lilia Osterloh. Makarova qualified for her first Grand Slam main draw at the US Open; in the main draw she defeated Julia Schruff and Ai Sugiyama, but lost to reigning world No. 1 and eventual champion, Justine Henin in straight sets. In her last tournament of the year in Minsk, she reached the second round, losing to Ekaterina Dzehalevich.

Her first tournament in 2006 was at Ortesei, in which as a qualifier she lost to Eva Birnerová in the first round. At Torrent, Valencia, Spain, she reached the finals, eventually losing to Romina Oprandi. At an ITF event in Moscow she reached the finals defeating Vesna Manasieva in the quarterfinals and Anna Lapushchenkova in the semifinals, before falling to Evgeniya Rodina.

In her first professional tournament in Elektrostal as a wildcard, she reached the quarterfinals losing to Olga Savchuk. At her last tournament of 2003 in Zhukovsky, Russia, she lost in the first round. She then played in Cairo, Egypt, reaching the second round as a qualifier. At Antalya, Turkey, she won her career first title over Kateryna Avdiyenko. Appearing at Felixstowe, Great Britain, she lost in the first round. At Târgu Mureş, Romania, Makarova claimed her second $10,000 title without dropping a set, defeating Simona Matei in the finals. In Moscow as a wildcard in the qualifier, she earned her first top 100 victory over Tatiana Perebiynis and Marta Domachowska, but lost to compatriot Anna Chakvetadze.

Makarova faced top-ranked Kerber in the first round of the French Open, beating her in two sets; this was the first time in the French Open history and the first time in the Open Era tennis history since 2001 that a number-one ranked player failed to reach the second round. According to WTA Insider, Makarova after her win over Kerber is ranked fourth among active players by number of top-ten wins at Grand Slam tournaments, with 10.

Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova (Russian: Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова , IPA: [jɪkɐtʲɪˈrʲinə vɐˈlʲerʲjɪvnə mɐˈkarəvə] ; born 7 June 1988) is a former Russian professional tennis player. She achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 8 on 6 April 2015. Her best Grand Slam singles results have come at the 2014 US Open and the 2015 Australian Open where she reached the semifinals on both occasions. Makarova is a four-time Grand Slam champion in doubles competition, having won the 2012 US Open mixed doubles tournament with Bruno Soares, and the 2013 French Open, the 2014 US Open and 2017 Wimbledon Championships with Elena Vesnina.

Makarova started her year at the Apia International Sydney where she qualified. She faced Li Na in the first round and lost. Then at the Australian Open in the second round, she defeated 25th seed Kaia Kanepi. In the third round, she defeated 7th seed Vera Zvonareva. In the Round of 16, she defeated 13-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams to advance to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal of her career. There she faced 4th seed and former champion Maria Sharapova and was defeated by the eventual finalist. Makarova lost in the second round at Indian Wells to Caroline Wozniacki after defeating American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the opening round. She did well at Miami by reaching the 4th round where she lost to Sharapova again.