World Number 2 and the top seed, Maria Sharapova prevailed in a marathon tussle lasting over three hours to progress to the Quarter Finals in defence of her Stuttgart title over clay court specialist Lucie Safarova.
Sharapova won in three sets 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3, squandering several match points en route to a hard fought victory.
“I`ve had a few three-hour games in my career, so I knew I just had to keep fighting until the end. That`s when it`s the time to get the game-plan going and calm down a little bit.” said the Russian in the post match interview.
Sharapova will now face Ana Ivanovic in the quarter finals on Friday.