Serena sets up quarterfinal clash with Sharapova at Australian Open

Williams posted and easy 6-2, 6-1 win over unseeded Russian Margarita Gasparyan at R Laver Arena.

The 34-year-old cruised into the quarterfinals by beating Margarita Gasparyan 6-2 6-1 and set up a clash with Maria Sharapova in a matchup that is justifiably hyped but rarely delivers on the court.

“These are the players that will ultimately take our spot”, Sharapova said of the talented Bencic. It is one of the great match-ups in sport, all the more intriguing for its regularity and one-sidedness, which Sharapova has the blessed knack of ignoring altogether.

Earlier, the Russian world number five ground her way into an eighth Australian Open quarter-final, downing highly-rated Swiss teen Belinda Bencic after a titanic struggle.

In an up and down opening set, the four-times finalist and 2008 champion was broken four times but still managed to keep Bencic in check and break her to take the set. Mainly because her 17-match losing streak against Williams started that day.

The American tennis star boasts an astonishing 18-2 head-to-head record against Sharapova, who claimed her last victory against Serena at the 2004 Tour Championships in Los Angeles.

Sharapova wasted no time in breaking straight back but her hit-and-miss serve again let her down and Bencic reclaimed the advantage with a sizzling backhand down the line. “Once she plays Serena [Williams], it will be ace, ace, ace, everything”.

Her postmatch request was to get to face her next opponent with the roof open. “I never play thinking I want to be (equal) with the great Margaret Court, I just play just want to win a Grand Slam and that’s it. So here I am, I’m just playing for me”.

“That win propelled me to win the tournament, so…”

Williams reacted in playful shock when informed of her next opponent. Coached by Melanie Molitor, mother of Martina Hingis, she won tournaments in Eastbourne and Toronto in a breakout 2015 and was a major hurdle for the Russian.

“Obviously, 24 is close, but yet it’s so far away”, Williams said of Court’s career record. I’m playing just playing for me. I got myself into the quarter-final of a Grand Slam.

Japanese seventh seed Kei Nishikori was the first man into the quarters in Melbourne with a straight sets win over underwhelming French ninth seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga.

Radwanska will next play No. 10-seed Carla Suarez Navarro, who defeated Aussie Daria Gavrilova 0-6, 6-3, 6-2, ending the 21-year-old’s dream run in Melbourne. Tsonga, seeded ninth, had 13 aces but made 36 unforced errors during the two-hour, two-minute match.

No matter how hard the Tsonga tried, the explosive Frenchman could not hit his way past the brickwall-like defence of Nishikori.

It was the third time this tournament that matches have been interrupted due to medical situations in the stands.

“It’s not like I think about, ‘What can I do worse?'” Sharapova said.

“I think the person who’s winning could definitely feel the pressure because there is a lot of expectations”.

Several years ago Williams not so obliquely chided Sharapova with a disparaging comment about an anonymous player – clearly Sharapova – and said it was “her choice to be with a guy with a black heart”.