Melbourne: Second-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova cruised into the Australian Open quarter-finals after beating China’s 21st seed Peng Shuai in straight sets here Sunday. The 2008 Australian Open winner crushed Peng 6-3, 6-0 to set up a clash against Canada’s No.7 seed Eugenie Bouchard. Bouchard, who regrouped to beat Irina-Camelia Begu earlier in the day, became the first player into the quarterfinals.
Sharapova has beaten Bouchard in all three of their previous meetings, their most famous match being Sharapova’s come-from-behind 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory semifinals of the French Open last year.
