Australian Open - Maria Sharapova melts down as Ashleigh Barty wins thrilling encounter

After a strong first set, the Russian's game disintegrated as a patriotic home crowd roared the Australian Barty into her first Grand Slam quarter-final.

Sharapova was booed after taking a seven-minute toilet break at the end of the second set - but the pause did not help the 30th seed, who lost the next four games. She rallied briefly but could not salvage the match.

"It was a little close, wasn't it?" said Barty. "She's an absolute champion, I knew she was never going to go away. So I just had to keep chipping away and trust the work we've done. I know that I can match up with the best."

Both players raced out of the blocks, exchanging high-quality rallies before Sharapova gradually ratcheted up the pressure she needed to take the opening set 6-4.

Then everything changed, as Barty raised her game while Sharapova's fell apart - from 1-1 in the second, Barty won the next nine games to move 4-0 up in the decider. As the crowd got on the Russian's back, she produced a strong of errors and 10 double faults.

But as Barty's nerves increased, Sharapova clawed it back to 3-4 and had three break points to level the set - only for the pendulum to swing back in Barty's favour as five straight points put her within a game of the last eight.

The just about held her game together, and an ace on her fourth match point sealed a famous win - she will face Petra Kvitova in the last eight.