Maria is into the quarters of the Australian Open in Melbourne
after she defeated Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 6-1 6-0 in 67
minutes.
This is Maria's sixth appearance at this stage of the event. Maria
previously reached this stage or better in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
and 2012.
Although Maria lost only one game in the first set, the set took
43 minutes as there were some long deuce games. Flipkens won the
first game of the match and Maria then won six straight games and
won the set when Flipkens slice backhand floated long.
The run continued in the second set as Maria didn't drop a game.
At 40-Ad on Flipkens serve in the final game Maria hit a forehand
down the line winner to book her place in the quarter-final.
In Tuesday's quarter-final match, Maria will be up against No.19
seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia. Maria has played Makarova four
times before and leads the series 4-0, here are the matches they
have played against each other:
Madrid 2011 R2: Maria won 6-3 3-6 6-1
Rome 2011 R2: Maria won 6-1 6-1
Australian Open 2012 QF: Maria won 6-2 6-3
Miami 2012 R3: Maria won 6-4 7-6