Dominant Sharapova sets up Kvitova revenge match

MELBOURNE (Reuters): Russia’s Maria Sharapova booked her spot in the last four of the Australian Open on Wednesday with a surprisingly straightforward 6-2 6-3 win over compatriot Ekaterina Makarova.

Makarova had stunned five-times champion Serena Williams in the fourth round but her performance against the world number four was a major let down as Sharapova closed out the win in a little under 90 minutes.

She will now get the chance to avenge her 2011 Wimbledon final defeat to Petra Kvitova after the Czech bounced Italian Sara Errani out in their earlier quarter-final encounter.

“I thought she was going to play really well today coming off a big win, probably her biggest in her career,” Sharapova said.

“It was just really important for me to not give her much of a look at the open court.”

Sharapova, who won the last of her three grand slams at Melbourne Park in 2008, swarmed all over Makarova’s weak second serve and routinely swatted them back faster than they came at her.

The Melbourne Park crowd have given fellow primal screamer Victoria Azarenka a hard time throughout the tournament but they were more forgiving of the Sharapova shrieks, which assaulted eardrums anywhere in the vicinity of Rod Laver Arena.

Sharapova had too much juice on her serve for Makarova to return with any venom and the former number one faced just two break points in the match.

One of those break points came with a 4-2 lead in the first set, but Sharapova averted the danger with an ace then crushed a forehand winner to take a three-game lead and broke Makarova again to seal the set.