Madison Brengle stuns Ekaterina Makarova in Dubai opener

Sport360 staff 17:25 15/02/2016
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  • Brengle en route to her win over Makarova.

    Makarova has been ranked as high as eight in singles and three in doubles, but a leg injury meant that she did not play after the US Open in September until she embarked upon a comeback in Australia last month.

    So far she is still struggling to re-establish herself at the top level, and after dropping the opening set she surrendered a break of serve in the second to give Brengle victory in her debut appearance.

    Elsewhere, world number 23 Andrea Petkovic comfortably saw off Italian Camila Giorgi in straight sets to advance to the second round of the tournament.

    “I’m very happy with how I played, I’ve worked hard over the past few weeks to be ready here and I was able to translate good training onto the match court,” Petkovic said.

    “All the work paid off, things are coming together for me.”

    Petkovic said she had a close call after the end of last season, as she pondered her future in the game.

    “I was in New York and thought about just staying there. But in the end I took my plane to Germany and began to work on my game,” she said.

    “I’m happy I made the right decision to stay in tennis.”

    The German eased to a 6-2, 6-1 win, Petkovic securing victory in a little over one hour.

    In the qualifying matches , Yaroslava Shvedova battled her way into the main draw by edging past Denisa Allertova 6-4 4-6 7-6 in their final qualifier.

    Tsvetana Pironkova also advanced into the main draw in another tense encounter by overcoming Anna-Lena Friedsam 5-7 7-5 6-3.

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