MELBOURNE : Maria Sharapova set up an enticing quarter-final showdown with Eugenie Bouchard at the Australian Open following a comfortable 6-3 6-0 fourth round victory over China’s Peng Shuai today.
The second seed broke Peng twice in the first set, though she had some trouble on serve with the Chinese holding four break points, and winning one, in a marathon seventh game. Sharapova, however, wasted little time in finishing off Peng, breaking in the first game of the second set and using that as a springboard to romp to a 75-minute victory. The Russian will now face Bouchard, who had earlier beaten Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu in three sets, in a tantalising clash with the up-and-coming Canadian just one of several 20-year-olds challenging the established order of women’s tennis.
(AGENCIES)
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