Angelique Kerber through to face Garbine Muguruza in fourth round
Saturday 8 July 2017 18:25, UK
Top seed Angelique Kerber is through to the fourth round at Wimbledon but only after surviving an epic tussle with Shelby Rogers.
Kerber found herself a set and a break down against the World No 70 but fought back bravely to win 4-6 7-6 6-4.
The German was the beaten finalist at Wimbledon last year but has not been in the same form in 2017 and could lose her place at the top of the rankings at the end of this tournament.
And she was second best in the first half of her match against Rogers, who packs plenty of punch with her groundstrokes and led 4-2 in the second set after winning the first.
But Kerber broke back to make it 4-4 and, after the next four games went with serve, she took charge in the tie-break, winning it 7-2 to level the match.
The deciding set was also tight, Kerber breaking in the first game, only for Rogers to respond and level at 2-2.
But last year's Australian and US Open winner broke again to lead 4-3 and then held twice to book her place in the last 16.
Next she will face Garbine Muguruza, the 2015 runner-up, who breezed through with victory over Sorana Cirstea.
The Spanish 14th seed took just over an hour to record a 6-2 6-2 win against Romanian Cirstea, who was Bethanie Mattek-Sands' second-round opponent when the American suffered her horrific knee injury.
"I'm feeling pretty good," said Muguruza, who was beaten in the 2015 final by Serena Williams.
"I felt today I improved my game a bit compared to the previous matches. I'm happy the way I'm playing out there.
"It's great to reach the second week. That's everybody's goal, to go through the first week, the first matches, then the exciting part comes now in a way."
A third former finalist, Agnieszka Radwanska, the ninth seed from Poland, came from a set down to beat Timea Bacsinszky 3-6 6-4 6-1.
Switzerland's Bacsinszky was struggling in the closing stages, having required treatment on a thigh problem prior to the final set.
Radwanska will next play seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, who eased to a 6-4 6-0 victory over Slovenia's Polona Hercog.
Caroline Wozniacki was another big name who had to work very hard, eventually prevailing 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 against Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.
The big-hitting Kontaveit served for the match twice in the second set and missed a routine backhand that would have given her three match points at 5-4.
But Wozniacki would not give in and won the set on a tie-break before pulling clear in the decider.
In round four Wozniacki will take on Coco Vandeweghe, the 24th seed, who has yet to drop a set at the championships after beating fellow American Alison Riske 6-2 6-4.
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