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Peng Shuai of China hits a return to Maria Sharapova of Russia at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London June 27, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

Fired-up former champion Maria Sharapova is just too hot to handle for China's Peng Shuai.

The 24-year-old Russian beat Peng 6-4 6-2 after some initial trouble with her serve on a sweltering Court Two and she is now favourite to repeat her 2004 triumph.

Peng, who has risen from 72nd to 20th in the rankings this year, is the highest-ranked woman not to have yet won a tournament, but her double-handed strokes on both wings kept Sharapova at full stretch in the early stages.

However, the former world number one gradually found her rhythm?and broke?Peng's serve?in the ninth game and closed out the opening set to take control of the match.

If Peng had been under pressure in the opening set, she faced serious bombardment in the second as Sharapova extended her game-winning streak to seven by surging to a 4-0 lead as the Chinese errors mounted.

Peng held at 4-1 with the help of a fifth ace but it served only to defer what was clearly an inevitable outcome. Sharapova went on to win the next two service games and sealed the victory. She will play Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the last eight.