Sharapova cruised through her first two rounds against Olga Puchkova and Misaki Doi winning both matches 6-0, 6-0. She then had little trouble against seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in the third round winning 6-1, 6-3 and the fourth round saw her untroubled once again.
The world No. 2 and four-time Grand Slam winner thrashed Belgian Flipkens dropping just one game along the way and needing only 68 minutes to do it.
Sharapova has conceded just five games through her first four rounds making it an Australian Open record that was previously held by Steffi Graf (1988) and Monica Seles (1991 and 1993).
Her five games conceded is just one more than the overall Grand Slam record as well that is held by France's Mary Pierce at the 1994 French Open.
The Russian has now remarkably just dropped five games on the way to the quarter finals where she will next face fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova, who knocked out fifth seed Angelique Kerber earlier on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Sharapova is obviously delighted with the way she has started the tournament, but knows she must remain focused now heading into the second week.
"I'm certainly happy to be playing this well, but it only gets tougher from here. It's really about keeping your focus no matter what the score is and no matter if you're up or not," Sharapova said.
"I didn’t start the match really great. I was facing a different type of opponent today and I was making a few more mistakes than I would have liked in the beginning. It's always a much easier said than done to keep that focus though.
"Things can change really quickly and it's really about sticking to your game plan, being consistent, and keeping on playing your game."
Meanwhile, China's sixth seed Li Na is also through to the quarter finals after beating 18th seed Georgian Julia Goerges in straight sets, 7-6, 6-1.
It was a tight battle in the first set with it going to a tie-break where Li won eight points to six. That set lasted 54 minutes, but the 2011 French Open champion cruised through the second in 32 to win it 6-1 to book a quarter-final appearance against either Agnieszka Radwanska or Ana Ivanovic.
"I always am hoping to make the quarter-final and I was very happy that I could win this match to get there," Li said.
"If I lost the first set it would have been another story, but I was able to win it in the end.
"Of course it will be another tough match next for me and I think my coach is off watching them play now."