Carla Suarez Navarro battles past Eugenie Bouchard to reach final eight in Rome

Carla Suarez Navarro has fought her way into the quarter-finals of the Italian Open with a 6-7(2) 7-5 7-6(7) victory over Eugenie Bouchard.

It was a poor start for Bouchard as she lost serve in the set opener, but she managed to bounce back three games later to level proceedings.

A tie-break was needed to separate the two competitors and this is where the Canadian player stepped up as Bouchard broke three times to seal it 7-2.

In the second set, both players dropped serve early and after double breaks for the pair, Navarro managed to edge ahead on Bouchard's serve to draw the match at 1-1.

Bouchard stormed out of the blocks in the deciding set by going a break up, and she was able to respond instantly to losing serve with another break.

Both players battled for victory as another tie-break was required to decide the winner, and Navarro managed to seal it 9-7.