Paris, France (SportsNetwork.com) - Maria Sharapova was on the verge of becoming yet another favorite to exit the French Open before the second week.
After dropping the first set and trailing in the second against Samantha Stosur, Sharapova turned up the heat and won the final nine games to capture a 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory in the fourth round on Sunday.
Sharapova has become an overwhelming choice to win her second French Open crown, particularly after a first week that saw the exits of the top three seeds -- Serena Williams, Li Na and Agnieszka Radwanska.
The Russian star won the 2012 title to complete a career Grand Slam and came up short in the final last year against Williams. She won a pair of clay titles earlier this year, first in Stuttgart and then in Madrid, before a third-round loss to Ana Ivanovic in Rome.
This week started well with a trio of straight-set wins, including a double- bagel against Paula Ormaechea in the third round on Friday. It was a bit of a struggle early on Sunday against the 2011 U.S. Open champ and 2010 runner-up at Roland Garros.
However, after Stosur took the lead in the second set, everything changed.
Sharapova won 18 of 21 points during the streak of nine straight games and used an array of backhand winners with a strong serve to finally put the Aussie away. She appeared to concentrate on putting first serves in, connecting on 16-of-25 in the third set with just one double-fault, while also winning 12-of-14 points on Stosur's serve.
"It was such a difficult start for me, Samantha played so well," said Sharapova in an on-court interview after the match. "Every match I can't take for granted. So happy to be back in the quarterfinals. It was a great day for me."
Next up for Sharapova will be Spain's Garbine Muguruza, who will try to take out a former French Open champion for the second time in this tournament. She pulled off the upset of Williams, the defending champion and top seed, in the second round and on Sunday rolled past Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier, 6-4, 6-2, to reach her first career Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Canada's Eugenie Bouchard claimed a spot in the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-2 rout of Germany's Angelique Kerber on Sunday. Bouchard polished off the eighth seed in just 52 minutes to earn her second straight Grand Slam quarterfinal. She reached the Australian Open semifinals earlier this year and is coming off her first WTA title last Saturday at Nuremberg.
"I'm confident and I really believe in my skills," said Bouchard. "I believe I can play with the best girls out there. I was really mentally prepared for anything, for a battle. I was just really going for my shots. That was my intention. It worked."
Bouchard, seeded 18th, will next play Carla Suarez Navarro. The 14th-seeded Spaniard knocked off another of the first-week giant killers, rolling to a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Croatia's Ajla Tomljanovic.
Tomljanovic knocked off the third-seeded Radwanska in the third round.
The upset-filled tournament now has just four of its top 10 seeds remaining and at least one more will exit Monday, as sixth-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia takes on 10th-seeded Italian Sara Errani.
Also Monday, fourth-seeded Simona Halep will have her hands full with American 15th seed Sloane Stephens, while 2009 winner Svetlana Kuznetsova meets Czech veteran Lucie Safarova and Andrea Petkovic of Germany squares off against Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens.
