By Chris Oddo | Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Simona Halep opened her clay-court season with an impressive come-from-behind victory against an opponent that had troubled her in the past, rallying past Garbine Muguruza for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory to reach the quarterfinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

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Muguruza, who owned a 2-0 lifetime record vs. Halep, started strong by making 75 percent of her first serves in the opener and winning 80 percent of those points. She would break the Halep serve twice and save the only two break points she faced in taking the opener.

But Halep quickly raised her level to dominate Muguruza in a lopsided second set.

In the decider Halep fell behind by a break and was in danger of falling behind further but she saved two break points at 0-2 down with some superb shotmaking.

The Romanian, who improved her record in deciders to 9-1 for 2015, would take the next three games, but Muguruza wasn’t done fighting. The Spaniard held for 3-all and had a break point in the next game for a 4-3 lead but Halep once again came through in the clutch to keep the edge.

Halep would notch the crucial break on her second break point of the eighth game and serve the match out in the next game, converting her first match point.

The world No. 3, who has a chance to surpass Maria Sharapova for the No. 2 ranking by the end of the week, will face either Sara Errani or Zarina Diyas in the third round in Stuttgart.

Errani won for just the third time in ten decisions over Agnieszka Radwanska, 7-6(8), 6-4, while Diyas notched the WTA’s second double-bagel of the season over Sabine Lisicki.

Belinda Bencic was also a winner on Wednesday in Stuttgart. The 18-year-old rallied past Julia Goerges, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, to set up a second-round encounter with Carla Suarez Navarro.

Angelique Kerber set up a second-round match with Maria Sharapova with a 6-2, 7-5 win over American lucky loser Alexa Glatch.