Serena Williams to face Maria Sharapova in Australian Open quarter-final

Serena Williams will look to extend her iron grip over Maria Sharapova after serving up a glamour Australian Open quarter-final against her arch-rival.

The world No 1 and defending champion schooled Margarita Gasparyan 6-2 6-1 in just 55 minutes on Rod Laver Arena to ensure the mouth-watering showdown on Tuesday.

Sharapova holds the dismal record of not beating her nemesis in 17 contests dating back 12 years. The last time she managed a win was at the WTA Tour Championships in 2004 and her last Grand Slam success over the American was in the Wimbledon final earlier that year.

She now has another chance to finally get the monkey off her back after coming through a 7-5 7-5 thriller against the WTA's highest ranked teenager Belinda Bencic.

The richly talented 18-year-old had a number of chances to break Sharapova in the second set but the five-time major champion's serve repeatedly sprung her from jail.

The Russian world No 5, who lost to the American in the Melbourne Park final last year, said she was always looking to improve and used the losses against Williams to examine what she could do better.

"It's not like I think about what I can do worse," said Sharapova when asked what she could do to snap the streak.

"You're always trying to - always trying to improve. I got myself into the quarter-final of a Grand Slam.

"It's only going to be tougher, especially against Serena.

"There is no reason I shouldn't be looking to improve and to getting my game in a better position than any other previous round. It's only going to be tougher, especially against Serena."

Williams' victory was her third successive straightforward win. She has not been pushed in Melbourne since her first round clash with Italy's Camila Giorgi.

She has spent a total of just two hours and 39 minutes on court since beating Giorgi and a nonchalant Williams claimed she didn't know Sharapova was now in the way of her bid to win a 22nd Grand Slam and equalling Steffi Graf's Open-era record.

"I'll be ready, she had a really good match - I had no idea I was playing her [Sharapova] next," she told the courtside interviewer after taming Gasparyan.

"That will be a good match, I have nothing to lose. We are both doing the best we can. It'll be fun."

Williams won three majors - the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon - in 2015 which took her to within one of Graf's long-time record of 22. Margaret Court holds the all-time Grand Slam record of 24.

We will bring you all the news, views, reaction and opinion throughout the Australian Open.