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Can Johanna Konta send Ekaterina Makarova on a direct flight to Moscow, or will the 21st seed end Konta’s dream run? Join The Roar for live scores from around 5pm (AEDT).
Makarova has had a solid start to 2016, with some close battles against top players on the WTA Tour.
The Russian is coming off a straight-sets win over world No.12 Karolina Pliskova, having also defeated Australian teenager Maddison Inglis and Tatjana Maria.
In her lead-in to the tournament, Makarova fell out of the Sydney International in the quarter-finals, losing to Belinda Bencic 6-0, 2-6, 6-4.
The 21st seed has won seven of her last ten matches, with losses at Sydney, Brisbane and the US Open in early September 2015.
Konta, who switched allegiances from Australia to Great Britain in May 2012, is in her first Australian Open main draw appearance, and deeper into a grand slam than she has ever been before.
The Australian-born world No.47 had an unsuccessful start to the summer, making first-round exits at Shenzhen and Hobart with losses to Qiang Wang and Dominika Cibulkova respectively.
She turned that around, coming away with a first-round win at Melbourne Park over world No.10 Venus Williams 6-4, 6-2.
The right-hander then defeated Saisai Zheng in the second round 6-2, 6-3, before coming out victorious over Denisa Allertova in the third round 6-2, 6-2.
Konta has won six of her last ten matches and a win over Makarova will see her rise in the rankings to at least 34th.
The pair have played each other just once, during the second round at Eastbourne in 2015, with Konta winning in straight sets. The winner of this match takes on American Madison Keys or Chinese qualifier Shuai Zhang.
Prediction
Konta will give Makarova a serious run for her money, however the former Australian will be unable to hold on.
Makarova in three sets.
Join The Roar for live scores from around 5:30pm (AEDT) – following the completion of the doubles match between first seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza, and Svetlana Kuznetsova and Robert Vinci – and comment below if you’re watching the match.
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