Ekaterina Makarova through to the second round

Ekaterina Makarova has beaten Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Australian Open 6:0, 4:6, 6:1. In the second round she will play with the the tough Italian girl, Sara Errani.

Ekaterina Makarova of Russia plays a forehand during her first round match against Ekatarina Alexandrova of Russia on day two of the 2017 Australian Open Source: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

In her interview after the match Ekaterina Makarova  frankly talked about the reasons for the numerous failures in last season, including memorable loss to Elena Vesnina for a quarterfinal at Wimbledon. But this was all this in singles. In the pairs the Russians tandem of Makarova-Vesnina acheived a gold Olympic medal and this has received the highest recognition in the home country.