Rome, Metropolitan City of Rome, Italy, 18 May 2018 | Tennis Australia

Daria Gavrilova fought hard but came up short against Maria Sharapova in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

The Australian number two was quickly back in action following her three-hour win over third seed Garbine Muguruza, which finished at 2am local time on Thursday.

She took on three-time champion Sharapova later the same day and soon fell 5-1 down, before reclaiming one of the breaks of serve.

The Russian got the better of seven service breaks in the second set to win 6-3 6-4 in one hour and 38 minutes.

.@MariaSharapova ousts Daria Gavrilova 6-3, 6-4!

Will meet @JelenaOstapenk8 in the @InteBNLdItalia quarterfinals! pic.twitter.com/12mDvx2pEq

— WTA (@WTA) May 17, 2018

‘I also played back-to-back matches and have to focus on the recovery aspect of my body and see where I can take it in the next day,” Sharapova told wtatour.com.

“But you also realize that she has had a long, deep match, went into the early hours of the night.

“I think this is one of the challenges of this back-to-back Madrid/Rome tournament. There’s so many matches, so many rounds, big draws, and those are just the circumstances that you come to.”

Sharapova will face French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the quarterfinals in Rome.

In the doubles, Australian John Peers and Finland’s Henri Kontinen beat John Isner and Jack Sock 7-6(2) 603 in the second round.

Ash Barty and Dutchwoman Demi Schuurs saw off Alia Kudryavtseva and Renata Voracova 4-6 6-4 10-2.