MELBOURNE, Australia — Maria Sharapova's knack of beating her fellow Russians continued on Thursday, as she downed Ekaterina Makarova to reach the Australian Open final.
Second-seeded Sharapova dismissed 10th-seeded Makarova 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour, 27 minutes at Rod Laver Arena. It was her sixth straight victory over Makarova.
MORE: Must-see photos from Melbourne | Funny faces from the Open
Sharapova will play in her fourth Melbourne Park final on Saturday. She'll have a chance to add to her lone Daphne Akhurst Trophy, which she claimed in 2008.
She has won 23 of her past 24 matches against Russian opponents since October 2010, with three of those wins coming against Makarova in Melbourne.
It took 10 minutes for Sharapova to register a hold of serve for 1-0 as Makarova made a nuisance of herself early.
Makarova's first service game lasted seven minutes. Sharapova won it to claim the break lead, the five-time major winner's ground strokes packing much more punch than her opponent's.
Free points were hard to come by for Makarova but she served her way out of three break points in the fourth game. She also produced her first successful HawkEye challenge of the tournament to hold for 1-3.
Sharapova hit 15 winners to Makarova's five in the first set, exposing the latter's absence of a distinct weapon.
The second set began like the first. Sharapova shot out to a 3-0 lead, this time getting the double break. Makarova was the tournament leader with 86 percent of games held on serve coming into the semifinals, but Sharapova broke in four of Makarova's first six service attempts.
Typical serving woes would give Sharapova some nervous moments.
Serving at 4-1, Sharapova hit her sixth and seventh double faults for the match to give Makarova break-point chances. But as quickly as she dug the hole, Sharapova scurried out of it to chalk up another convincing victory over Makarova at the year's first major.