By Erik Gudris | Sunday, August 6, 2017
Ekaterina Makarova of Russia has often called Washington, DC one of her favorite cities. Now she can call herself Citi Open champion after earning a comeback win in Sunday’s WTA final.
Makarova, a former three-time semifinalist, took the next step to being a champion after earning a three set comeback win over No. 4 seed Julia Goerges.
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"Every time when I was coming back, I was really enjoying, and dreaming to win this tournament, and here it is. I'm so happy about that," the No. 7 seed Makarova said. "I don't have a coach this week with me, but I have some great supporters. The crowd was just amazing and I heard a lot of Russians today...all tournament, I just really enjoyed this week. It was amazing."
Makarova earlier in the week advanced over top seed Simona Halep who retired in their match due to heat illness. Goerges herself reached the final after winning a hard-fought three set semifinal over her German Fed Cup teammate Andrea Petkovic.
Goerges, playing in her third WTA final in as many weeks, jumped out to an early lead. From there she secured the first set 6-3.
Makarova fought back and soon lead 5-2 in the second set. But Goerges rallied and eventually served for the match while up 6-5.
Yet Goerges couldn’t close it out and soon Makarova broke the German to force a tiebreak that she soon won. From there, it was all about Makarova as a weary Goerges couldn’t connect on many of her shots down the stretch.
Makarova ran away with the final set and soon served out the 3-6, 7-6(2) 6-0 victory.
Washington DC is Makarova’s third WTA title, and her first since Pattaya City in 2014.