Taipei City, Taiwan, 3 February 2017 | tennis.com.au

Sam Stosur was given the toughest of tests against a little-known opponent before advancing to the quarterfinals of the Taiwan Open on Thursday.

Stosur beat Slovenian qualifier Dalila Jakupovic 3-6 7-5 6-3 to set up a meeting in the last eight with China’s Peng Shuai.

Peng, a former world No.14, routed No.5 seed Katerina Siniakova for the loss of just four games.

For Stosur, this is her first appearance in the quarterfinals of a WTA event since Washington DC in July.

She was two games from defeat in the second set against her 156th-ranked opponent before reeling off four straight games to close out her second win at the International-level tournament.

“I didn’t feel like I was playing too bad, because I had lots of chances to win many of the games,” Stosur told wtatennis.com.

“I earned many break points but wasn’t able to convert them, and every time she had one chance she took it.

“It felt like I should have been leading in the first set, so it was tough to start out the second set thinking about how I was going to convert all these chances.

“By the third set, I feel like I was playing my best tennis.”

Stosur owns a sparkling 6-0 record in her career head-to-head with Peng, but the pair have not met since Rome in 2013.

“We’ve played each other a few times, but not for many years,” she said.

“She hits the ball very hard, very flat – it really comes through the court. I know it’s going to be very difficult, and I’m sure she’s feeling very confident after her quick win today.”