Maria Sharapova was dumped out of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells by defending champion Flavia Pennetta - but world No 1 Serena Williams did manage to reach the quarter-finals . Fresh from beating Victoria Azarenka in Monday 's third round , Sharapova looked ready to continue her fine run of form and took the first set against Pennetta , who looked distracted and emotional throughout the opening games . The Italian rallied , however , forcing Sharapova into a decider before tightening her grip on the match and closing out a 3-6 6-3 6-2 victory . Maria Sharapova reaches for a forehand in her defeat by Flavia Pennetta at the BNP Paribas Open . Italian Pannetta , the defending champion at Indian Wells , won the second and third sets to reach the quarters . Williams had earlier recovered from a nightmare start to overcome her fellow American Sloane Stephens 6-7 ( 3/7 ) 6-2 6-2 in the Coachella Valley . The world 's best player dropped her first two service games in the fourth career meeting between two former friends , whose relationship had cooled in the wake of Stephens ' solitary win at the 2013 Australian Open . But Williams became increasingly dominant as the match went on and secured her win in two hours and seven minutes . She will next tackle Timea Bacsinszky in the last eight after the Swiss hopeful 's 4-6 6-1 6-1 triumph over Elina Svitolina . Sharapova waves farewell to the crowd in California after falling to Pannetta in three sets . VIDEO Sharapova out , Serena battles through . Awaiting Pennetta is Germany 's 24th seed Sabine Lisicki , who saw off Caroline Garcia 6-4 6-4 . Lesia Tsurenko emerged victorious from an epic late-night battle with sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard . The Canadian , a Wimbledon finalist last summer , had to scrap to win the first set on a tie-break and could not keep Tsurenko under wraps as the world number 92 steadily turned the screw before clinching a 6-7 ( 5/7 ) 7-5 6-4 win after two hours and 50 minutes of play . Carla Suarez Navarro progressed to the quarter-finals by beating British number one Heather Watson 7-6 ( 7/5 ) 3-6 6-1 and standing between her and a place in the final four is Simona Halep , the Romanian who defeated Karolina Pliskova 6-4 6-4 . Elsewhere , Jelena Jankovic reeled off five straight games as she beat Belinda Bencic 6-3 3-6 6-3 . World No 1 Serena Williams ( right ) shakes hands with fellow American Sloane Stephens after her victory . In the men 's competition , second seed Roger Federer missed two match points but improved to take his revenge on Andreas Seppi with a 6-3 6-4 win . The Swiss master reached the last eight and a match-up with Jack Sock after dispatching the man who knocked him out of the Australian Open in January . Sock , the world number 58 from Nebraska , remains in the tournament thanks to his 3-6 6-3 6-2 victory over Roberto Bautista Agut . Grigor Dimitrov was the surprise casualty on Tuesday as Tommy Robredo set up a quarter-final clash with sixth seed Milos Raonic . Roger Federer missed two match points before defeatiing Andreas Seppi 6-3 6-4 to reach the last eight . The Spaniard had to steel himself after surrendering the second set but he would prevail 6-4 1-6 7-5 , with Raonic joining him in the last eight following a 7-6 ( 7/2 ) 6-4 success against Alexandr Dolgopolov . Third seed Rafael Nadal encountered few problems dispatching Donald Young 6-4 6-2 - he will now meet Gilles Simon , who removed qualifier Michael Berrer from contention with a 6-2 7-5 win - and Tomas Berdych made light work of Steve Johnson , winning 6-4 6-2 . A face-off with Lukas Rosol beckons after the Czech edged out Robin Haase 6-4 6-7 ( 4/7 ) 7-6 ( 7/3 ) .
Defending champion Flavia Pennetta beat Sloane Stephens in three sets . Sharapova won the first set before the Italian rallied to win 3-6 6-3 6-2 . World No 1 Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova 6-7 ( 3/7 ) 6-2 6-2 .