Simona Halep managed to overcome her tough adversary on Wednesday evening to secure her spot in the quarter-final stage of the Porsche Tennis Grad Prix event. The Romanian will next come up against Sara Errani, whom she has encountered twice previously on the WTA tour. With the Halep v Errani head-to-head series tied at 1-1, this will serve as the rubber match to hand the rivalry lead to one of the two talents.

In her first clay court encounter of the season, Simona Halep was faced with another opponent who had defeated her in their two previous encounters on the WTA tour, Garbine Muguruza. This time, however, Halep overcame her rival in a tough three-set battle to secure her spot in the quarter-final round in Stuttgart. She lost the opening set, breezed through the second set, and fought hard to secure the pivotal break that led her to the 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory. The Romanian won 63% of her first service points and saved five break points to secure the victory in one hour and 48 minutes.

It was Halep’s 25th win on the tour this season, and was the first player on the WTA to reach that mark so far this season.

In a much easier match, Sara Errani cruised into the quarter-final round of the tournament with a 6-4, 6-1 victory against Zarina Diyas. She won 90% of her service points and broke serve five times to win the match in one hour and 15 minutes.

Halep and Errani will cross paths on the professional tour for the third time – a rubber match that will separate the 1-1 head-to-head record that they compiled over the past couple of years. After trading wins in 2013-14, the two Europeans will clash for the first time on clay to determine who will advance to the semi-final stage of the event.