Russian top seed Maria Sharapova dished out a 6-0, 6-1 defeat to Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova in the second round to cruise into the WTA Paris Open quarter-finals yesterday.

A shock fourth-round loser at the season-opening Grand Slam the Australian Open in Melbourne earlier this month Sharapova regained the winning thread at the Stade Coubertin, a short serve and volley away from Roland Garros where she won the French Open title in 2012.