MELBOURNE - Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova set up an explosive Australian Open quarter-final with crushing wins but men's fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko's title hopes fizzled out at a drizzly Melbourne Park on Sunday.

Justine Henin Maria SharapovaThe Russian was given a 7-6 6-3 6-1 thrashing by 14th-seeded compatriot Mikhail Youzhny.

David Nalbandian, seeded 10th, was also on the wrong end of a pasting, losing 6-1 6-2 6-3 to Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero in a third-round match held over from Saturday.

Third seed Jelena Jankovic advanced safely, however, ending the dream run of home hope Casey Dellacqua with a 7-6 6-1 tennis lesson in the first match of the night session.

The final match was cut short when Paul-Henri Mathieu pulled out of his clash with second seed Rafael Nadal trailing 6-4 3-0. The Frenchman had a leg injury.

Ferrero and Nalbandian took up residence on centre court at 11am, just 6 ½ hours after the end of Lleyton Hewitt's epic five-set victory over Marcos Baghdatis. That ended at 4:33am after four hours 45 minutes of see-saw action.

Ferrero's victory could hardly have been more different as he raced past the Argentine in just 104 minutes.

"When you play matches against the top players like today, you want to do your best -- I think I did it very well," he said.

NEAR NAMESAKE

Ferrero next plays compatriot and near namesake David Ferrer for a place in the quarter-finals. The fifth seed swatted aside American Vince Spadea 6-3 6-3 6-2.

【体坛英语资讯：Henin, Sharapova on course, Davydenko falls】相关文章：

★ 娱乐英语资讯：Lindsay Lohans father wont walk her down aisle

★ 体坛英语资讯：Did Yi get an All-Star snub?

★ 娱乐英语资讯：Movie chief testifies in Hollywood wiretap trial

★ 娱乐英语资讯：Lindsay Lohan says rehab was sobering

★ 娱乐英语资讯：Cruz sisters don fedoras for Mango ads

★ 体坛英语资讯：Capello just the tonic for England

★ 体坛英语资讯：Russias historic win over England makes Hiddink proud

★ 体坛英语资讯：Brazil notice Valencias Diego Alves

★ 体坛英语资讯：We are one big happy family

★ 娱乐英语资讯：Dutch broadcasters unwilling to air controversial Koran film