Serena sent packing by little known Makarova

One may not readily recognize her seeing this photo.

 She is - Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova 23 years of age with career ranking  of 56 recently.   She is creating waves in Australian Open -  In the 2nd round she defeated #25 seed Kaia Kanepi 6-4, 6-2. In the 3rd round she defeated #7 seed Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (7), 6-1. In the Round of 16 she achieved  the biggest win of her career when she defeated #12 seed and 13-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the first Grand Slam Quarterfinal of her career where she will face #4 seed and former champion Maria Sharapova.

So Russians are destroying Americans, at least in Australia !! - It was a straight set defeat handed over to the flamboyant Serena Williams.   The five-time Australian Open champion was expected to make light work of Russia's Makarova but found herself on the wrong end of an upset as the heat seemed to sap her energy.   Williams had won her last 17 matches at Melbourne Park, lasting losing to Jelena Jankovic in 2008, but couldn't get going and made 37 unforced errors on her way to a disappointing defeat.

The 56th-ranked Makarova will now face compatriot Maria Sharapova in her first Grand Slam quarter-final and admitted she was happy just to have got the better of Williams.  Williams came into the tournament with a badly-injured left ankle that forced her to pull out of a warmup tournament in Brisbane two weeks ago. On Monday, she appeared to be moving well, but made 37 unforced errors and had her service broken while trying to stay in the match.

In the Men’s section, Japanese Kei Nishikori notched another mark  by becoming  the first Japanese man to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open since the Open Era began in 1968 with an exhausting 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over former finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar