Summary:
Maria Sharapova is set to meet Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the French Open for the first time since 2011.

Full article:
By . Eleanor Crooks, Press Association . Maria Sharapova cruised into the second round of the French Open with a 6-1 6-2 victory over fellow Russian Ksenia Pervak. Rain in Paris held up play for an hour, and that was almost exactly the time it took Sharapova to dispatch Pervak on a damp Court Philippe Chatrier. The 27-year-old has grown to really like clay and, until she lost to Ana Ivanovic in Rome, she had not been beaten by anyone on the surface except Serena Williams since the French Open in 2011. Cruising through: Maria Sharapova beat fellow Russian Ksenia Pervak 6-1 6-2 in the first round . Coming up: She will face Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in the next round . Williams was the player who ended Sharapova's hopes of retaining her title 12 months ago with victory in the final, and they could meet again in the quarter-finals this time. Qualifier Pervak was never likely to trouble the seventh seed and she did not hold her serve during the first set. Pervak managed to end that sequence at the start of the second but Sharapova then reeled off five games in a row and wasted no time clinching victory. In the second round, Sharapova will play Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova, who is much more at home on a grass court. Deflated: Pervak never really put up much of a fight against her fellow Russian . Roar of approval: Sharapova is set to meet reigning champion Serena Williams in the quarter-finals .