WTA No. 100 Ekaterina Makarova Wins Shock Eastbourne Title

Lost in the  hype over the imminent arrival of Wimbledon was Ekaterina Makarova's incredible run to her first career title, winning the prestigious AEGON International at Eastbourne with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Victoria Azarenka in the final.

Makarova was not even seeded in qualifying, but won the three matches needed to make it to the main draw. 

Once there, she reeled off five straight set victories, all against opponents currently ranked inside the WTA Top 20 (Flavia Pennetta, Nadia Petrova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Samantha Stosur, Victoria Azarenka).  What's more, Makarova didn't so much as drop a set against any of them.

Makarova played patient yet aggressive tennis throughout the weak, hitting dipping passing shot after dipping passing shot off her deceptively powerful lefty forehand wing.

Eastbourne likely has the toughest field of any 32-player outdoor tournament in the entire WTA calendar.  For Makarova to come out of qualifying to win it, without so much as dropping a set, should serve notice that there could be massive things coming from her career in the very near future.