Charleston, SC, USA, 4 April 2014 | tennis.com.au

Sam Stosur’s struggles with Lucie Safarova have continued, with the Australian falling in a heart-breaking three-setter to the Czech on Thursday night at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston.

After winning the first set, Stosur built healthy leads in both the second and third stanzas but couldn’t hold on, falling 3-6 6-4 6-4 in two hours.

The loss sees Stosur’s head-to-head record against Safarova drop to 2-9, and marks the sixth straight loss to the world No.26.

There were some positives to come out of the match – after quickly falling behind 3-1, Stosur rattled off seven straight games to move ahead 6-3 2-0, snapping a 10-set losing streak to the Czech in the process.

Safarova began to work her way back into the match, breaking back to level at 3-3, and breaking again in the 10th game to level the match.

An agitated Stosur made the unusual move of calling for her coach, and the pep-talk from Miles Maclagan seemed to work; the No.7 seed broke early and jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the deciding set.

But in a carbon copy of the second set, Safarova reeled in Stosur’s lead, and after smacking three winners in the ninth game to hold for a 5-4 lead, she benefitted from a rash of Stosur errors in the final game to seal victory.

Safarova advances to a quarterfinal meeting with 14th seed Andrea Petkovic.