Top seed Maria Sharapova demolished Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 6-1, 6-2 to book a place in the Los Angeles Open quarter-finals on Thursday.
The 19-year-old Russian, who claimed her second title of the year at the Acura Classic on Sunday, was hardly troubled as she set up a meeting with compatriot Dinara Safina in the last eight.
Safina, the fifth seed, beat American Laura Granville 6-2, 7-6 in an earlier third-round match.
Dominating from the baseline, Sharapova hit 38 winners and broke her opponent six times before coasting to victory in 73 minutes on another hot day at the Home Depot Center.
It was the Russian's second straight-sets win over Bartoli, the 15th seed, in their two career meetings.
"Why would I want to make it any longer than I have to?" Sharapova told reporters.
"I won't really say I overpowered her but I took advantage of the short balls and I really took advantage of her second serve, which was about 85 mph.
FEW ERRORS
"She started to play better in the second set and I made a few errors and was a little up and down," she added. "But other than that, it was fine."
The last time Sharapova played Safina, in the fourth round of the French Open, she lost in three sets after leading 5-1 in the decider.
"I don't feel I have any more Christmas presents in my suitcase, so I hope I don't give any away tomorrow," Sharapova said of their Friday quarter-final.
"But I'm not going to look back. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully a new result."
In other matches, third-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva beat Israel's Shahar Peer 7-5, 6-3 and US wildcard Bethanie Mattek eased past Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-1.
Dementieva was relieved to avenge her defeat by Peer in the third round of this year's French Open.
The Russian, seeded sixth at Roland Garros, had led 4-1 in both sets before going down 6-4, 7-5.
"I was really upset because I was not playing the way I wanted to play today," Dementieva said.
PLAYING DEFENSIVELY
"I was playing defensively from the beginning of the match and I didn't like it, but I couldn't change because I lost to her the last time.
"I really wanted to take revenge today," added the 24-year-old, who raced into a 4-0 lead in the opening set before allowing Peer to level.
"She started to play well. She had nothing to lose. There were so many memories going through my mind.
"But it was a little easier after I won that first set."
Twice champion Serena Williams, playing her second tournament in seven months because of a chronic knee problem, was scheduled to meet seventh-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in the day's late match.
Williams, winner here in 1999 and 2000, was upset by Hantuchova in the third round of the Australian Open, her first event of the year.
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