MELBOURNE: Angelique Kerber is the only major winner remaining in the Australian Open women's draw after ending Maria Sharapova's comeback tour at Melbourne Park.
The 2016 champion routed Sharapova 6-1, 6-3 in the third-round match on Saturday evening to extend her winning streak to 12 matches.
Five-time major winner Sharapova was back at the Australian Open for the first time since 2016, when a failed test for meldonium led to a 15-month doping ban.
It was all over in 64 minutes, a stark contrast to top-ranked Simona Halep's 4-6, 6-4, 15-13 win in three hours, 45 minutes over American Lauren Davis in the opening match.
In a third set that took 2:22 to complete, Halep wasted chances to serve for the match in the ninth, 11th and 15th games, then had to save three match points in the 22nd. There were 11 service breaks and two medical timeouts -- for Davis to get treatment on both feet -- before Halep converted on her first match point.
"I never played a third set so long, so I'm really happy I could stay and win it. I'm almost dead," Halep said of the match which equalled Chanda Rubin's win over Arantxa Shanchez Vicario in 1996 -- also 48 games -- for the Australian Open record in terms of most games.
"I just feel that my muscles are gone," said Halep, who badly twisted her left ankle in the first round. "My ankle is, I don't know how it is because I don't feel it anymore. But ... it was nice to win this match."
Halep will play Naomi Osaka, who beat 18th-seeded Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 6-2 in a match that was moved from the centre court to Margaret Court Arena because of the two long matches on Rod Laver.
No.20 Barbora Strycova beat US qualifier Bernarda Pera 6-2, 6-2, leaving US Open finalist Madison Keys as the only American woman to reach the fourth round.
Keys advanced 6-3, 6-4 over Ana Bogdan and will next play No.8 Caroline Garcia, who beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
Sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova beat No.29 Lucie Safarova 7-6 (6), 7-5 in a match featuring just one service break.
On the men's side, six-time champion Novak Djokovic downed Spanish 21st seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets to power into the fourth round.
The Serbian 14th seed won 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 and will face South Korean surprise package Chung Hyeon, who trained in Thailand to get used to the heat, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Chung took out fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev 5-7, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 earlier on Saturday. Another unexpected loss at a major had the highly touted Zverev admitting he may have a problem.
"Definitely not physical, so ... I have some figuring out to do, what happens to me in deciding moments in Grand Slam," he said.
Zverev, 20, has five titles on the ATP tour but his fourth-round exit at Wimbledon last year remains his best run at a major.
Tomas Berdych ended 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro's return to Melbourne Park for the first time since 2014 with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win.
Fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem beat Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 to set up a fourth-round match against Tennys Sandgren, who continued his career-best run by beating Maximilian Marterer 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (5).