Tennis: Maria Sharapova ended Justine Henin's 32-match winning streak in spectacular fashion by thrashing the world number one in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
Henin was comprehensively outplayed by her Russian rival, Sharapova winning 6-4 6-0 at Melbourne Park.
The fifth seed will meet Jelena Jankovic in the semi-finals after the Serbian beat defending champion Serena Williams.
Jankovic triumphed 6-3 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena in a hard-fought last-eight encounter to qualify for the semi-finals of the season's opening Grand Slam for the first time.
Jankovic claimed the decisive break of serve in the fifth game of the first set to go ahead 3-2 when Williams stretched to reach a forehand and could only hit her return into the net.
Williams' inconsistencies were highlighted in the second game of the second set when at 15-40 down on serve, she produced a fine cross-court backhand winner before hitting a tame return into the net to fall 2-0 behind.
But she broke back immediately when mercilessly dispatching a weak Jankovic return only for the Serb to return the compliment with a backhand pass down the line.
The third seed then relinquished her advantage when she hit a return long before both players took medical time-outs.
Jankovic returned to the court with her thigh strapped while Williams was struggling with a blister and a marathon game then ensued before the latter held her serve to make it 3-3.
Williams pushed her opponent all the way in the next but then lost her serve as Jankovic converted the first of two break points.
She again displayed her battling qualities to make it 5-4 but two double faults handed Jankovic match point and Williams put a forehand wide to crash out.
Rafael Nadal had no such worries in the men's draw as he cruised into the semi-finals after a straight-sets victory over Jarkko Nieminen.
The Finn pushed the number two seed all the way in a competitive first set before Nadal's class eventually told and he came through 7-5 6-3 6-1.
Nieminen had two set points at 15-40 on Nadal's serve when 5-4 up in the opening set but could not convert either and the Spaniard then broke him in game 11 of the set before holding his serve to take it.
The Spaniard broke the 24th seed early in the second and followed that up with another to move into a commanding 4-1 lead and though Nieminen broke back, Nadal recovered to stamp his superiority on proceedings again.
He then broke Nieminen again in the second game of the third set and never looked back.
The number two and four seeds in the men's doubles draw - and the top seeds in the women's doubles - all crashed out, though.
In the men's event, seventh-seeded French duo Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra accounted for second seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic 6-4 6-4 while Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie beat fourth seeds Martin Damm and Pavel Vizner 7-5 5-7 6-4.
And in the women's draw the Bondarenko sisters saw off top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6-3 6-2 to reach the semi-finals