Istanbul Open: Aleksandra Krunic stuns Ekaterina Makarova; Svetlana Kuznetsova rallies to reach third round

Istanbul: Fifth seed Ekaterina Makarova became the latest high-ranked player to lose in the Istanbul Open when the Russian was beaten 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 by world number 53 Aleksandra Krunic on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_4446809” align=“alignleft” width=“381”] Aleksandra Krunic in action against Ekaterina Makarova. Image courtesy: Twitter/@istanbul_cup[/caption] Markarova became the fifth seeded player to suffer an opening-round defeat following the exits of Agnieszka Radwanska, Zhang Shuai, Sorana Cirstea and Aryna Sabalenka. After losing the first set, Serbia’s Krunic powered past her opponent to claim the second in 24 minutes. Krunic converted an early break in the decider and held on to the advantage with solid defensive play to clinch victory. Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova recovered from a mid-match blip against Bulgarian qualifier Viktoriya Tomova to win 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 in the second round. Tomova, ranked 165th in the world, grabbed an early break in the decider before her Russian opponent won five consecutive games and closed out the match in just over two and a half hours.