Not for nothing is Maria Kirilenko back up at an equal career-high ranking of No.12 - and with her fourth-round win over Bethanie Mattek-Sands at Roland Garros 2013, she is set to pierce the top ten for the first time. The two women battled out a gritty encounter in which short games were rare, and in the end the Russian’s superior class over the world No.66 told. Mattek-Sands will also profit in the rankings by equalling her own career best Grand Slam performance, but Kirilenko it was who progressed to the quarter-finals, winning 7-5, 6-4. Yet to drop a set, she will meet Victoria Azarenka in the last eight.

Mattek-Sands went into this match with reason to be positive. She has plenty of wins against top 20 opposition under belt – 13, actually, with the last six all on clay – and she had that tremendous second-round win here over 2001 champion Na Li. Ranked as high as No.30 two years ago, in the first half of last year she found herself frequently suffering from fatigue for no apparent reason, before being diagnosed with a whole clutch of food allergies. A change in diet paid dividends in her game: having begun 2013 down at No.173 in the world, a strong clay-court season bounced her up to No.66 on arrival here.

For Kirilenko the highlight of her 2013 season so far has been her sixth career title and her first since 2008, in Pattaya City. Having won the WTA doubles with Nadia Petrova last year, she is now focusing solely on singles and her climb up the rankings is reward for that commitment.

It was Mattek-Sands, 28, who took the initiative early on to break with the aid of an ill-timed double fault. At 4-1 she had won all her first service points, but in the following game, Kirilenko forced her way through with a crosscourt backhand volley, then levelled for 4-4. Mattek-Sands stayed in it to 5-4, when the trainer came on court and she had a medical time out. By 5-5 this was a gripping contest. Mattek-Sands saved two break points for 5-6 but couldn’t hold back a third. She got to 0-30 and had a shot for three break points but sent the ball wide. On her first set point, Kirilenko double-faulted for the fifth time – indeed her first service did not fire on all cylinders throughout the match, although her second often saved her bacon. At the second time of asking however, she forced an error from the American to bag the set after 66 minutes.

There was no let up in the second. Mattek-Sands was broken but stubbornly broke back, calling on all of the fighting spirit that she is reputed for. The long first set began to take its toll on her however, and Kirilenko duly breached her defences again. At 3-2 a reason for the Russian's misfiring service emerged when she called the trainer on court for a medical timeout to manipulate her right shoulder. The treatment turned out to be enough to ensure that no amount of attack from Mattek-Sands could level the match.

"It's good to be able to say I'm a quarter-finalist at last," said Kirilenko. But she cast doubt on whether Mattek-Sands really needed the trainer on court. "I was a bit surprised. I thought maybe she joke with me, so it was like little bit not maybe nice from her. Maybe she really had some problems. I don't know. For me, it was cold and the balls were heavy and I did funny movement in my serve so I'm going to the physio. Hopefully it's ok."

Kirilenko will need to serve way better than this against Azarenka if she is to win through to her career first Grand Slam semi-final, but at the age of 26 she is on the brink of becoming a top ten player at last.