Eugenie Bouchard has blamed her poor start for her straight-sets defeat to Maria Sharapova in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

The 20-year-old lost her serve in the first game of the match and struggled to get into a rhythm throughout the first set as she succumbed to a 6-2 defeat.

Matters didn't improve in the second as Sharapova's power overwhelmed the Canadian to reach the semi-finals in Melbourne.

Bouchard told reporters: "I felt under pressure the whole time, a bit on my back foot. That's not how I want to play. I feel like I didn't start well, and it kind of all went downhill from there."

Sharapova will go on to play Ekaterina Makarova in the last four of the competition.