World No.1 Justine Henin believes Maria Sharapova is the one to beat for the Australian Open title after receiving a straight-sets hiding from the No.5 seed in the quarter-finals on Tuesday night.
Sharapova was unstoppable as she steamrolled Henin 6-4 6-0 in 98 minutes, inflicting the Belgian's first loss in 33 matches since the semi-finals of last year's Wimbledon Championships.
"She served consistent and she's been much more aggressive and looked like it was her day and probably her tournament, so she's in great shape," the seven-time Grand Slam champion said.
"She looks really confident now, and she has a great chance to do it, I think."
Henin indicated she had problems with her knee during the match but refused to use that as an excuse for her performance.
"I was a bit anxious, because I knew I wasn't really 100 per cent. Even if it's not an excuse about what happened on the court, because she was much better than me," she said.
"I knew she was in top form and I knew it was going to be tough, so I was ready to fight and give my best, but it wasn't good enough."
Unlike their three-and-a-half hour epic in the final of the season-ending Tour Championships, this was a cakewalk for Sharapova who produced a stunning 30 winners from all over the court to blow Henin away.
Sharapova, at 20 already a two-time major winner, said this was perhaps her most complete performance.
"I think it was one of the most consistent matches where I did all the things I wanted to do, and I did them correctly from the beginning to the end," she said.
"I felt like I did many things right, and I just played the way I can play."
And if she can reproduce that effort against Jelena Jankovic on Thursday, there may be no stopping her collecting a maiden Australian Open crown.
