MELBOURNE, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Maria Sharapova set a record of the Australian Open here on Sunday after she reached the quarterfinals.
The Russian has lost only five games in four matches, including her Sunday's 6-1, 6-0 victory over Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, which beats the tournament record of eight games lost en route to the last eight, held by Monica Seles and Steffi Graf. It also comes close to Mary Pierce's all-Grand Slam mark of four in reaching the 1994 French open quarters.
The second seed also grabbed two double-bagels in her first and second matches, which made her the first women since 1985 to dole out consecutive double-bagels at a Grand Slam.
The irresistible world No.2 clocked up her fifth 6-0 set score of the week and won the second set in 25 minutes to set up an all-Russian clash with Ekaterina Makarova, her victim in the quarterfinals on the way to last year's final.
"I'm certainly happy that I'm playing this well but it's now the quarterfinals and it only gets tougher," said Sharapova, the champion in 2008.
Sharapova is among the three players in the bottom half of the draw who are not yet to drop a set. The other two are China's 2011 French Open winner Li Na and Polish fourth seed Agineszka Radwanska.
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