In a rematch of the pair’s quarter-final meeting last year, Sharapova showed the same focus and ruthlessness that has come to define her in Melbourne. She hit 22 winners on her way to a routine straight sets win, and won 83% of her first serve points.
Makarova, the 19th seed, had beaten both Marion Bartoli and Angelique Kerber earlier in the tournament, but could find no answer to Sharapova’s relentlessly aggressive play. The higher-ranked Russian pounced on Makarova’s second serves, breaking her five times in the 66-minute contest.
With the victory, Sharapova has now lost just nine games on her way to the semi-finals, beating the record of 12 previously held by Monica Seles. She will play in the last four for the sixth time in her career on Thursday, and has a chance of overtaking Victoria Azarenka at the top of the rankings if she wins the title.
The brains behind the “Sugarpova” range of confectionary will be confident of reaching the showpiece match when she takes on her next opponent, Li Na. Sharapova has beaten Li eight times in 12 meetings, matches which have spanned clay, grass and hard courts.
And although Li will be tipped to put up more resistance than any of the Russian’s previous foes this fortnight, another Sharapova romp is not out of the question: she thrashed the Chinese 6-4, 6-0 in their most recent encounter in Beijing last October. Sharapova hasn’t looked this good at the Australian Open since 2008, the year she hoisted the trophy.
