Maria Sharapova of Russia follows through on a shot to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia during their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Top-seeded Maria Sharapova thrashed eighth-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 6-2, 6-2 on Friday to set up an all-Russian semifinal against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Open Gaz de France. Although Sharapova dropped her serve once, the four-time Grand Slam champion broke Flipkens’ serve five times to win in little more than an hour. ”We haven’t played against each other in quite a bit of time,” Sharapova said ahead of her match against Pavlyuchenkova. ”She’s playing really well this year and had a great win today, so I’m sure she’ll be really confident.” In a more tightly-contested match, Pavlyuchenkova upset fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (3).

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