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The in-form Indian, who finished runners-up at last week's Pattaya Open in Thailand, defeated Makarova 7-5 6-2 after slogging it out for one hour and 27 minutes in the opening round of the hard court event.
Sania will now be up against 16th seed Spaniard Kaia Kanepi in the second round.
The error-prone Indian lost her serve twice in the opening set and committed three double faults but with Makarova being as rusty, Sania managed to clinch it breaking the Russian thrice in the process.
The Hyderabadi player was in control in the second set and broke Makarova thrice out of the nine chances she got to wrap up the match.
In doubles, Sania and her Italian partner Mara Santangelo would open their campaign against the Swiss-Polish pair of Stefanie Voegele and Urszula Radwanska on Tuesday.
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