Aspiring No. 1 Maria Sharapova and former top- ranked star Amelie Mauresmo were a pair of easy quarterfinal winners Friday at the $1.3 million Italian Masters. The top-seeded Sharapova, currently second in the world, dispatched ninth- seeded fellow Russian Elena Bovina 6-2, 6-2, while the second-seeded Mauresmo, currently third in the women's rankings, dismantled four-time Rome titlist Conchita Martinez 6-1, 6-2 on the red clay at Foro Italico. The 1994 Wimbledon champion Martinez captured this tournament from 1993-96 and was the runner-up in her fifth straight trip to the final here in 1997. The reigning Wimbledon champion Sharapova, who failed to reach a semifinal in her six previous clay-court events, could supplant American Lindsay Davenport atop the WTA Tour rankings with a title this weekend. Mauresmo, seeking her fifth trip to the Rome final in six years, beat American Jennifer Capriati in last year's Italian Masters final and was the runner-up here in 2000, 2001 and 2003. Sharapova's semifinal opponent on Saturday will be eighth-seeded Swiss lefthander Patty Schnyder, who destroyed Russian Evgenia Linetskaya 6-1, 6-0 in a brief 54-minute affair on Day 5. The 18-year-old Sharapova is 1-0 lifetime against the 26-year-old Schnyder, with the victory coming in a grass-court semifinal in Birmingham last year. Mauresmo's semifinal opponent will be sixth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva, who knocked out heavy Italian crowd favorite Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 7-6 (7-4). Schiavone ousted Australian Open champion and former No. 1 Serena Williams in straight sets here on Wednesday. The 25-year-old Mauresmo is a dominant 6-0 lifetime against the 20-year-old Zvonareva, including a victory in last year's semifinals here in Rome. The winner of this French Open tuneup will collect $189,000.