Intro:

Maria Sharapova and Eugenie Bouchard reflect on their quarter-final at the Australian Open on Tuesday (27th January) that saw the Russian progress in straight sets.

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English) Maria Sharapova, second seed:
(On her quarter-final win).

"I felt pretty good from the start. I thought I had a really good start. I kept my focus throughout the whole match. I didn't feel that I had too many letdowns, which is important. When I did have a few slips I was able to come out with great first serves or really powerful returns. But overall really happy with the way the match went."

SOUNDBITE (English) Maria Sharapova, second seed:

(On her upcoming opponent Ekaterina Makarova).

"Well, besides playing another Russian, I'm also facing an opponent that wasn't necessarily a favourite coming into that stage. That's always a tricky situation because she's going to come into that match free and almost happy to be in that situation, and that's dangerous.

SOUNDBITE (English) Maria Sharapova, second seed:

(On how an angry call from her father motivated her after a poor performance in the second round).

"I don't want to face that phone call with my father too many times during a tournament. It's like, I better get my stuff together."

SOUNDBITE (English) Eugenie Bouchard, seventh seed:

(On her quarter-final loss).

"I think she definitely played well today and she didn't give me many chances. I know I could have done better for sure, so I'm disappointed with that, with just general, you know, not taking the few chances I got here and there. Against great players, you have to take every little chance you can get. Although she didn't give me many, I know I had some. Disappointed I couldn't do better with those."

SOUNDBITE (English) Eugenie Bouchard, seventh seed:

(On how she felt about her tournament overall defending significant ranking points for the first time in her career).

"I'm never happy with losing. I wanted to obviously win today, win the tournament. But, you know, I feel like I dealt with, yeah, pressure, outside expectations well. I wasn't really focused on the whole defending thing. I really just tried to block that out of my mind. So I think, you know, that helped me get through the first week, get through some, you know, matches that could have been tricky. But, yeah, you know, I always want to do better, especially than the year before. I'm always trying to aim for that."