Maria Sharapova faced her Russian compatriot Ekaterina Makarova in the second women's quarter-final ath the Australian Open.
Makarova managed to break the Sharapova serve early on but that was as good as it got for the 19th seed.
Sharapova stormed her way to a comfortable 6-2 6-2 win to advance to the semi-finals for the fifth time at Melbourne.
See how the action unfolded with Sports Mole's live commentary.
Hello again, we're all set for today's third match. It's the second women's quarter-final between Makarova and Sharapova.
From all-Spanish to all-Russian here.
Sharapova has dropped just five games up to now. Her first two matches were double-bagels. Frankly, she's bulldozed her way to the quarter-finals.
Unfortunately, I can see this one going the same way. I hope at least it's competitive, as Sharapova's matches haven't been so far.
The players are just about done practising. Makarova will serve first.
Wow, great start from Makarova, she's raced to a 40-0 lead.
She holds to love and Sharapova immediately drops her sixth game of the tournament. Here she comes to serve. Can Makarova attack?
It would probably do Sharapova more good than harm if this one is a test for her. It would certainly give her game minutes ahead of the potential next two rounds.
Nothing at all wrong with her serve, though. She holds to 15 and looked very comfortable.
Two break points now on the Makarova serve..
BREAK! Makarova saves one, but Sharapova breaks. An ominous sign, it took just seven minutes. Can her opponent get a look in at the serve?
Sharapova recovers from 0-30 to hit a huge ace.
Deuce. Makarova has a slight look-in here.
BREAK! Superb recovery from Makarova! She sends Sharapova all over the court and finishes with a forehand winner. We're back with serve and Sharapova doesn't know what has hit her.
BREAK! Makarova literally serves up a gift, souble faulting at break point. The second seed now has a second chance to consolidate a break. No-one wants to hold their serve and it's a bit edgy.
This time, she's far more comfortable on serve, despite a double fault at 40-15. A 4-2 lead puts her in the driving seat in the set, though.
Some good, solid serves from Makarova move her to 40-15.
However, Sharapova responds with some huge shots and sets up a break point with a cross-court forehand right into the postage stamp in the corner.
BREAK! What looked to be a comfortable service game ended in a break for Sharapova. She serves now for the set.
When Sharapova gets a first serve in it's so tough for Makarova. It's 30-0.
SET! Makarova gets a point back but another booming serve from Sharapova takes her to the first set. No-one so far has been able to deal with her power, I can't see the second set lasting long.
Good play from Makarova, who sets up a point to finish with a forehand.
A poor shot at 40-15 gets Sharapova back in the game, and sure enough she brings it to deuce.
BREAK! Sharapova gets a few break points, mainly from poor Makarova shot selection. She finally takes one and breaks at the first time of asking in the set. This could run away from Makarova.
Too easy for Sharapova on her serve now. You wonder looking at Makarova playing her opponent's serve how she managed a break in the first set. Sharapova finishes this particular game with a low driven forehand that somehow clips the line.
Makarova responding well here. She won a big rally with a forehand right on the line forcing Sharapova into an error.
Sharapova's run of six successive games comes to an end, but Makarova has to find a break from somewhere if she's to stay in this match.
Sharapova races into a 40-0 lead.
With Makarova going wide with the final point for another very comfortable Sharapova service game.
Terrible shot from Makarova, who plops one halfway up the net from the middle of the court.
BREAK! As I feared at the start, it's becoming another whitewash. A shame, but Sharapova just has too much power - for most in the WTA tour, in fairness.
If Makarova is to get anything from this she has to break here. That might help - a double fault from Sharapova for 15-30.
Makarova wastes a good chance of 15-40 by going disappointingly long with a forehand.
Sure enough, after the minor scare normal service is resumed. Sharapova takes the game and is one away from another dominant victory.
Sharapova puts a couple of shots narrowly wide and Makarova now has a chance at 40-0.
Sharapova attacks a second serve to finish a well-worked point with a big shoulder-height volley.
Another very, very close wide call goes against Sharapova. Makarova holds serve, but only because of those three near misses. Sharapova will serve for the match.
Big backhand across the court is a great start for Sharapova.
GAME, SET AND MATCH! Another mismatch in truth as Sharapova storms through another player to reach the semi-finals. She'll be exceptionally hard to stop. The 16th time she's reached a Slam semi and the fifth time here in Melbourne.
That took just 62 minutes from start to finish. There surely isn't an easy game for her in the semis, so she's about to be properly tested.
That about wraps up the live coverage of this one. Thanks for joining me and we'll be back in about half an hour for the Novak Djokovic vs. Tomas Berdych. Goodbye!
Written by
Matt Domm
Matt Domm
