London, England (SportsNetwork.com) - German left-hander Angelique Kerber upset former champion Maria Sharapova, while third-seeded French Open runner-up Simona Halep eased into the quarterfinals at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
The ninth-seeded Kerber toppled the fifth-seeded Sharapova in 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-4 fashion in a brilliant fourth-round bout.
After two tight sets, the surprising Kerber charged out to a 5-2 lead in the third, only to see the Russian star mount a mini comeback.
Sharapova saved a match point in the eighth game of the stanza with an unlikely winner that just clipped the line on her way to a hold.
She then broke Kerber to pull within 4-5, but that's as close as Sharapova would get. The Russian star would save six match points, but was unable to stave off a seventh when she misfired long on a backhand to end an outstanding affair on the famed Centre Court.
Sharapova piled up 49 unforced errors, compared to 11 for Kerber.
The 26-year-old Kerber will now appear in a third major quarterfinal. She was a Wimbledon semifinalist two years ago.
The five-time major champion Sharapova, who was fresh off her second French Open title, captured her lone Wimbledon championship as a 17-year-old in 2004 and was the 2011 runner-up here to Czech Petra Kvitova.
Halep, meanwhile, posted a comprehensive 6-3, 6-0 win over Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas. The Romanian star handled the 72nd-ranked Diyas, appearing in her first Wimbledon main draw, in 57 minutes.
The 22-year-old Halep became the second Romanian woman to reach the quarterfinals at the All England Club, joining Virginia Ruzici, who made it to the quarters here in 1978 and 1981. Ruzici currently serves as Halep's manager.
Halep has reached at last the quarterfinals at all three of this year's Grand Slam events.
The highest-ranked player left in the women's draw, Halep will next face last year's Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki, who beat Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova by a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 margin on Day 8 of this fortnight.
The 19th-seeded Lisicki took an injury timeout while facing break point at 1-1 in the second set and was treated by a trainer for her right shoulder.
Lisicki lost to Marion Bartoli in last year's Wimbledon finale and has reached at least the quarters in her last five trips to the AEC.
Czech Lucie Safarova, seeded 23rd, reached her first-ever major semifinal by whipping 22nd-seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-1 in an all-left- handed quarterfinal.
Safarova reached one other Grand Slam quarter, and that occurred at the 2007 Australian Open. She's playing in her 37th career major.
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