Maria Sharapova and Ekaterina Makarova will meet this week for an all-Russian quarter-final clash at the 2012 Australian OpenYou can watch and bet on Sharapova v Makarova live for free at bet365 > live tennisMaria Sharapova overcame the deadly serve and powerful groundstrokes of Germany’s Sabine Lisicki on Monday, but needed three sets to earn a berth in the quarter finals. Next up for the Russian will be Ekaterina Makarova, who produced a steady performance to oust Serena Williams in straight sets, securing arguably the biggest shock of the tournament so far.
Sharapova was pleased to have beaten Lisicki, admitting that she was made to work hard for her win. “Well, she's a really solid player,” stated the former world No.1. “She has a big game. Big weapons. Serves really well. You know, started returning well, but that wasn't working for me. Got that back. But, you know, returning's obviously really important against her.”
Makarova’s surprise win caught Sharapova’s attention, and she’s now anticipating the quarter-final showdown. “I thought that Makarova, the few points that I saw, played really solid and well, forced unforced errors from her [Williams]. For her to come in and win in straight sets and to play at that level means she's obviously on a pretty big, high note right now confidence-wise, and that's always dangerous.”
Sharapova remained fairly guarded about her strategy for her next match. “You got to concentrate on yourself,” said the 24 year-old. “You know that you're in a quarterfinals stage of a tournament. It's only going to be tough from here. I mean, the further you get, the tougher it gets.”
“Obviously it's focusing on what I have to do. I played her a couple of times last year. It was on clay. We haven't played on hard, I don't think. So that will be a different matchup. But another lefty. I think it will help me that I already played against a lefty in this tournament.”
