Emotional Makarova joins Pennetta in early Moscow exit

EkaterinaMakarova_high_s

The Russian went into the WTA World Tour 250 event in Moscow among the favourites, but Begu ran out a 6-4 6-4 winner, with the 24-year-old holding her nerve well after being broken for the only time in the match in the fourth game, breaking back immediately in a game that saw deuce seven times.

After picking up another break to see out the first set, Begu remained solid, if unspectacular, on her own serve in the second set.

And a final break in the penultimate game effectively clinched victory for Begu and Makarova acknowledged that the Romanian deserved to reach the quarter-finals.

"I cannot say I played bad. Rather, Irina showed a good level of tennis, played very clean and very active," she said.

"I really wanted to play well at home, there were some emotions in this regard. However, I want to congratulate the run, she really played great."

Flavia Pennetta, seeded third, also found herself dumped out as she lost in straight sets, with fellow Italian Camila Giorgi claiming a 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win in the day's late match.

Neither player dropped a game on their own serve set in the opener, but Giorgi eased ahead in the tie-breaker, losing only two points on her serve before claiming the second set fairly comfortably.

Svetlana Kuznetsova battled to a 3-6 6-3 6-3 triumph over Kateryna Kozlova of Ukraine in a match that lasted over two hours and 41 minutes.

Alison Riske cruised to a 6-1 6-2 victory over wildcard Darya Kasatkina in their first-round clash, with  France's Kristina Mladenovic getting the better of seventh seed Karolina Pliskova 6-3 7-5.

Fourth seed Lucie Safarova defeated Ajla Tomljanovic 7-4 (7-4) 6-2 to set up a quarter-final with Kuznetsova.

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