STUTTGART, Germany, April 25 (UPI) -- Maria Sharapova and Li Na, the event's top two seeds, reached the quarterfinals Thursday at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
All eight second-round matches were contested Thursday, with No. 1 seed Sharapova, the defending champion, having to fight off Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3. Li breezed past qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-1, 6-2.
Next up for Sharapova will be former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, who disposed of eighth-seeded Nadia Petrova 6-4, 6-3. Petra Kvitova, the fifth seed, set up a quarterfinal matchup with Li after rallying past 2011 tournament champion Julia Goerges 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.
The other two quarterfinal matches will send Bethanie Mattek-Sands against Sabine Lisicki and Angelique Kerber against Yaroslava Shvedova.
Kerber dispatched Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-4, Mattek-Sands surprised Sara Errani 6-0, 4-6, 6-1, Lisicki defeated Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 and Shvedova won over Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5, 6-4.
