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Makarova stuns Stosur in Eastbourne

Ekaterina Makarova reached her first final of the season with a straight-sets win over Sam Stosur © Getty Images

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World No. 7 Sam Stosur's run at this year's AEGON International is over after she slipped to a surprise straight-sets defeat against Russian qualifier Ekaterina Makarova.

The Australian, who defeated Elena Baltacha in the quarter-finals, was the highest seed left in the Eastbourne draw after Caroline Wozniacki and French Open champion Francesca Schiavone were dumped out in the first round. That counted for little, though, as the unheralded Makarova sent Stosur packing with a 7-6(5) 7-5 win.

Stosur looked set for a straightforward day as she broke Makarova's serve early and raced into a 3-0 lead. The Russian left-hander, staring a second break in the face at 40-0 down on her own serve, responded in resolute fashion and, having fought back to hold serve, broke Stosur to force a tiebreak, which she won 7-5.

The second set followed a similar trend until Stosur, struggling to find a first serve, tightened up in the 12th game. Makarova took full advantage of three tired-looking second serves to set up match point and sealed the deal with a clinical backhand down the line to move into Saturday's final.

Victoria Azarenka will be Makarova's opponent in the final after she overcame 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli 6-3 7-5. The 20-year-old Belarusian, who put an abrupt end to Kim Clijsters grass-court renaissance in the previous round, served eight aces as she dissected her more experienced opponent's flaky forehand to continue her recent return to form.

Azarenka, who climbed to a career-high sixth in the world at the end of last season after winning three titles, sprinted through the first set in clinical style but was forced to recover from a break behind in the second as she re-discovered the form which saw her reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open earlier in the year.

At the Unicef Open, Justine Henin maintained her record of not dropping a set as she moved into a final against Andrea Petkovic with a 6-2 6-2 win over Alexandra Dulgheru. The diminutive Belgian was an image of efficiency as she swept a number of beautifully-timed groundstrokes past her Romanian opponent to seal her progress in 64 minutes.

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