OSAKA, Japan - Chanelle Scheepers' recent surge continued Thursday with a second round defeat of Yaroslava Shvedova at the HP Japan Women's Open Tennis 2011, but it was far from smooth sailing.

The seventh-seeded South African endured a wild third set in her 46 63 76(5) victory over Shvedova. Scheepers lost three straight games after taking a 5-2 lead. Then in the tie-break, she took a 5-1 lead, lost four straight points and won two straight to finally close it out.

Two weeks ago, Scheepers' best career result was a quarterfinal showing at Kuala Lumpur in 2010. However, she went all the way to the title in Guangzhou, rose to a career-high No.37 on this week's rankings and will now have at least another quarterfinal appearance to add to her resume. She will have her hands full in the final eight, though, as she takes on No.1 seed Samantha Stosur. She actually has a 2-1 record against the Australian, but they haven't played in almost nine years.

Stosur beat Misaki Doi, 62 64, in her second round despite a bit of a second set struggle. She lost three straight games after taking a 3-1 lead before holding at love, breaking at love and serving out the match.

Also setting up a quarterfinal clash were second-seeded Marion Bartoli and sixth-seeded Ayumi Morita. Bartoli disposed of Vania King, 61 62, avenging a second round upset three weeks ago in Seoul. The Frenchwoman has dropped just seven total games in two matches this week. Morita topped Eleni Daniilidou, 62 63, to get a crack at Bartoli, whom she is 0-6 against.

King and Shvedova did advance to the semifinals in doubles on Thursday, and if they take the title here will secure the final spot available at the season-ending TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships - Istanbul 2011.