Australian Open: Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams set up mouth-watering quater-final clash

New Delhi: Tennis fans are in for a real treat as two greats on the women's circuit are set to take their long-standing rivalry to the next level.

Superstars Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams won their respective matches on Sunday to set up a quarter-final clash at the Australian Open.

The American was in fine fettle, wasting not time in brushing aside Margarita Gasparyan 6-1, 6-1.

"It'll be a good match, she played a good game today. We'll have fun," said the world number one and defending champion about the mouth-watering clash.

Earlier, the Russian world number five ground her way into an eighth Australian Open quarter-final, downing highly-rated Swiss teen Belinda Bencic after a titanic struggle.

The five-time Grand Slam champion needed two hours, five minutes to get past the 12th seed 7-5, 7-5.

Serena has dominated Sharapova in all their recent meetings and will begin the match as the clear favorite.

(With Agency inputs)