Former champion Angelique Kerber reached the Wimbledon fourth round on Saturday with a little help from a rain break against Alexandra Sasnovich.
The break allowed her to regroup for a 2-6 6-0 6-1 victory.
Kerber quickly trailed 4-0 against her 100th-ranked opponent from Belarus and at 5-1 the match on Court 2 had to be stopped for almost two hours owing to the conditions.
Compatriot Alexander Zverev also had to rally —— without the benefit of a rain break —- to beat American Taylor Fritz 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-4).
But it was with the help of 19 aces and 45 winners though.
The German 2018 winner Kerber also lost the opening set when play resumed.
But she allowed Sasnovich only one further game en route to victory in one hour 15 minutes with an ace.
“I missed the start a little bit in the first set,” she said, adding that during the rain break her team “tried to motivate me which worked.”
The 25th-seeded Kerber finished with only seven unforced errors to Sasnovich’s 25 and next faces American teenager Coco Gauff.
“It will be an interesting match. She is dangerous, especially on grass,” Kerber said ahead of her first match against the 17-year-old Gauff.
Fourth-seed Zverev could have made life easier for himself in the following match on Court 2 had he not wasted break-points in the opening game against 31st-seed Fritz.
He went on to lose the set in a tie-break but was level thanks to a 10th-game break in the second and also took the third.
The fourth went into a tie-breaker again which Fritz started with an ace.
But Zverev won the last three points, clinching victory after two hours 37 minutes with a service winner.
“That was possibly not the best match I’ve played in this tournament. But I have found a way to win it. That’s the most important thing,” said Zverev. “He has really made it hard for me.”
In his second last 16 match at Wimbledon on Monday, Zverev plays dangerous Canadian 10th-seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.
dpa
