The match finished in straight sets, 7-6 6-3, in the favour of the Russian but the real show was the home player carving out a memory that will inspire her as she continues her career.
For a player who has spent a fair part of the year out with injury and split from her coach Patrick Mouratoglou just prior to the tournament you could forgive the youngster for being slightly out of touch, even after beating Angelique Kerber in the first round, not to mention the fact that she was facing up to the world number 6, but her first set performance was outstanding and pushed her more illustrious opponent to the brink.
After one marathon game first up Robson took Sharapova's opening service game on her third break point, though two consecutive double faults did hand the game over on a platter. She then extended her lead to 3-0 and then 4-1 but Sharapova began to grow into the match, pulling back to 4-2 despite failing to land a legal first serve in one entire game. Two further games later, one of which was a break back, it was 4-4 but London based Robson held her nerve to take the set to a tie break and, despite leading 4-2 at one point, it was Sharapova who won five points out of five to take it 7-4.
As the second set started and Sharapova went 2-0 up Robson's form could have easily dropped off but she kept plugging away and even though she was broken three times by the ever more imposing Sharapova, who at one point broke and held consecutive games to love, there were two breaks going her own way and at the end of the match, after a shaking of hands, there was none of the potential embarrassment that may have been nagging at the back of the mind as Robson tried to get to sleep the night before.
This was only the second appearance of the year for the Brit on the WTA tour, her third match in a grand slam and a first occasion on a show court and the pressure of facing a former Wimbledon champion, ranked a full 248 places higher in the world standings, was positively soaked up and regurgitated into strong stroke play on both sides while her sliced, left-handed serving had Sharapova's backhand in a great deal of trouble early on, something that the 24 year old alluded to when she spoke after the match.
"Laura started off so well, going for her shots and serving well. I couldn't get too many looks on the first serve but I hung on in there and started to play better. It's understandable the crowd is on her side, she's young and moving up the rankings so they should be behind her."
But Robson is still just seventeen and playing on the ITF challenger circuit, as she continues to develop as a player and move into WTA events her tactical mind and match fitness will continue to grow and, even with the in form Heather Watson currently ahead of her in the rankings, she has proved that she may still be the most exciting female Britain out on court for the foreseeable future.
As for Sharapova, the bookies favourite for this years championship, it was a stern test of her metal. Robson's quick start clearly got into her head as she began to slow down the time taken between points, trying to get back into the mental battle that was being played out. After picking out her opponents serve in the second set there shouldn't have been a great deal of trouble for the fifth seed but for her poor serving which lacked the verve required to test the worlds top players that she will no doubt go on to meet as the tournament progresses.
In the fourth round Sharapova will face off against Klara Zakopalova, the world number 35, who knocked out the 31st seed Lucie Safarova in an all Czech encounter. The pair have only met once before, way back in 2003, when it was Zakopalova who came out on top at the Australian open, though that match was far from where they are now, both players ranked well outside the top 100 at that point.
The only other British woman left in the tournament also fell at the second round, Ukrainian born Elena Baltacha losing out to China's Shuai Peng 4-6 6-2 7-5.
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