Maria Sharapova crushes Zarina Diyas to make fourth round

ByEurosport

Updated 23/01/2015 at 11:16 GMT

Maria Sharapova barely broke a sweat as she advanced into the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 6-1 6-1 win over Zarina Diyas.

Sharapova

Image credit: From Official Website

The statuesque second seed was forced to save match points against fellow Russian Panova on Wednesday but roared back into form against the hapless Kazakh, who was completely out-gunned in the baseline duels.

"I think I rebounded really well. I had a good hit yesterday," the five-times grand slam champion told reporters.

"Just kind of thought a little bit about what I wanted to try to achieve tonight no matter who I played.

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"Of course, I focused a little bit on myself more than anything else.

"Just tried to be a bit more aggressive, concentrate. I thought I did a good job of focusing well."

Maria Sharapova of Russia celebrates beating Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan in their women's singles match on day five of the 2015 Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 23, 2015. AFP PHOTO / WILLIAM WEST -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL US

Image credit: AFP

Sharapova blasted 22 winners against the 31st seed and sealed the match with an ace in a tick over an hour.

The Russian will next play Peng Shuai for a place in the quarter-finals, with the 21st-seeded Chinese taking on the mantle of retired champion Li Na with a second trip to the last 16 in Melbourne.

"I think she's always a tough player to play against because she's really solid," Sharapova said.

"She's quite powerful. I know she's gone through a few injuries in her career. Having that start-stop type of career is never easy, because sometimes you don't feel like you can actually get a routine and a groove.

"I think she's someone that actually gets better by playing matches, when she gets a good feeling of her strokes, because so much depends on her groundstrokes and the fluidity of how she hits."

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