Williams makes easy progress against Sharapova

Serena Williams breezed through to the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami with a 6-1 6-1 defeat of Maria Sharapova.

Williams, who was yesterday subjected to racist abuse during her win over Lucie Safarova, dominated the world number two throughout to win in 58 minutes.

She will now face Nicole Vaidisova in the last eight, where Justine Henin today beat Nadia Petrova 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4) to progress to the semi-finals.

The Belgian will play Anna Chakvetadze after the Russian recorded a 4-6 7-5 6-2 win over Li Na of China.