Kerber scrapes through as Federer, Djokovic wait
Top seed Angelique Kerber scraped into the Wimbledon last 16 on Saturday as Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic hoped for an easier ride into the business end of the championships.
Kerber looked mightily relieved after saving her world number one status in a tense 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 win over US world number 70 Shelby Rogers. The German star was a break down in the second set but did just enough to claw her way into Monday’s fourth round where she will face Garbine Muguruza.
Agnieszka Radwanska, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Coco Vandeweghe, Magdalena Rybarikova and qualifier Petra Martic also won their third round ties.
In the men’s draw, Djokovic was facing the erratic Ernests Gulbis on Centre Court before Federer was to take on Mischa Zverev.
Sam Querrey took one game to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a match suspended Friday due to bad light, while Grigor Dimitrov made it through after opponent Dudi Sela pulled out -- the 11th retirement at the championships.
Querrey and Tsonga’s match was called off at 6-2, 36, 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 6-5, with the French 12th seed not wanting to serve as the light faded, though Querrey was happy to receive. They returned to finish the contest on Saturday but it was all over in a matter of minutes as the US 24th seed broke serve.
“My opponent was good today. He did three, four good shots, and yeah, that’s it,” said Tsonga.
Querrey said: “It’s really the most anti-climactic way to finish a match.”
He faces South Africa’s Kevin Anderson for a quarterfinal spot.
Bulgarian 13th seed Dimitrov had an easy ride into the last 16 when Israeli Sela was forced to pull out at 6-1, 61 down after struggling with a right thigh injury that required treatment during the match.