Second seed Maria Sharapova is into the semi-finals of the Australian Open after defeating Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.

Bouchard burst on to the tennis scene last year at the Open when she made the semi-finals, but she was no match for her Russian opponent, beaten 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 18 minutes.

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Bouchard, the No.7 seed from Canada, had pushed Sharapova to three tight sets in the semis at last year’s French Open, but this turned out to be a much more one-sided affair.

Sharapova made only 18 unforced errors in the match compared to 30 from Bouchard.

“I had to have a really good performance against Genie because she’s been playing so well at the slams,” said Sharapova.

“I’m just happy to be at this stage of the tournament.”

Sharapova’s next opponent will be Russian Ekaterina Makarova, who thrashed third seed Simona Halep 6-4 6-0 to book a berth in the semi-finals for the first time.

The 10th-seeded Makarova is in career-best form, having reached the final four at a major for the first time at last year’s US Open.

The Russian jumped the Romanian at the start of each set on Wednesday and never let her back into the contest, winning in 69 minutes.

It was a desperately disappointing display from Halep who made a giant leap in the rankings from 11 to three last year and was expected to challenge for a first major title in Melbourne.

Makarova was out of the blocks quickly to lead 3-0 in the opening set and was even more commanding in a second set which lasted just half an hour.

“I love it here,” said the 26-year-old Makarova.

“It’s great that I came through against a tough opponent.”

It will be the first time that two Russian women have met in a grand slam semi-final since Dinara Safina beat Vera Zvonareva at Melbourne Park six years ago.

– with AAP