Ekaterina Makarova doesn’t just have one U.S. Open title on he⭕r mind — she has two.
After blitzing Victori🌠a Azarenka 6-4, 6-2 in the women’s quarterfinals on Wednesday, she not only advanced to her first Grand Slam semifinal, but kept alive her quest for a pair of titles, as she and Elena Vesnina are also in the women’s doubles semifinaওls.
Makarova had reached four Grand Slams quarterfinals in her career — all since 2012 — but has yet to advanc♋e further.
“I’m happy that I’m came through, finally through the quarters and I’m in semis now💟,” Makarova said. “Today was a great, tough match.”
Makarova and Vesnina beat Venus and Serena Williams, 7-6 (5), 6-4 Tuesday in the quarterfi🐻nals, and Makarova will see Serena again in the semifinals after she won her match 6-3, 6-2 Wednesday night.
“Well, she’s a great and tough player,” Makarova said. “But once I beat her already, so I have a great memo꧑ry. I have a great feeling of that match.”
Makarova has lost three of four ca𝓀reer matches to Williams. The lone win was in the four♑th round of the 2012 Australian Open in straight sets.
“Definitely [have] to stay aggressive, because she’s so aggressive,”
Makarova said. “And I ne🐲ed to be a little bit more aggressive than she is.”
The No. 17-seeded Makarova won eight of her nine service games Wednes﷽day, while also breaking No. 16 Azarenka four times. While she clearly looked better, Azarenka didn’t seem like her usual dominant self. After the match, a representative for Azarenka said she had been suffering from food poisoning, but didn’t get any more specific than that, nor did Azarenka.
“I d𒁃on🔯’t want to talk about it,” Azarenka said. “I feel like I tried my best with whatever I had.
“I’m not going to make any excuses today,” Azarenka said. “I did the best I could today, but I want to give full credit to my opponent. 𝓀She deserved to win. She played much better than me today. That’s it.”
The former No. 1 player in the world and ♕runner-up to Serena Williams in the previous two U.S. Opens, Azarenka has seen her ranking drop to 16th due to injuries and inconsistent performance.
“C🥂an I play better? Absolutely,” Azarenka said. “Do I doubt that I can play on a higher level? No chance. Nobody will tell me what I can or I canno𒅌t do.”
Ma🦹karova will play in the doubles semifinals on Thursday, followed by the women’s semifinals on Friday.
“To win the Grand Slam it’s … always the dream,” she said. “From the kid when I was goin🉐g to school and then came back home and watching some matches. … You don’t believe that you can be here, and finally you’re here and going so far.”