Kerber lives to fight another day

LONDON, Top seed Angelique Kerber lived dangerously for more than two hours before finally subduing the tenacious challenge of American outsider Shelby Rogers 4-6 7-6(2) 6-4 to reach the Wimbledon fourth round.
The German has struggled for form in recent months and at times was blasted off court by Rogers’ heavy hitting from the baseline.
However, the world No. 1 kept faith with her error-filled game plan to seal victory when Rogers, ranked 70th in the world, belted a service return long. She will face Garbine Muguruza on Monday for a place in the quarterfinals.
Muguruza continued her untroubled progress with a 6-2 6-2 thrashing of Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.
Cirstea, who reached the third round after American opponent Bethanie Mattek-Sands suffered a horrible knee injury, matched Muguruza for power but made too many errors to pose a serious threat to the 14th seed.
Muguruza, 23, showed there was more to her game than power with some silky drop shots as she powered on to victory in a little over an hour. Svetlana Kuznetsova, eased into the second week with a 6-4 6-0 defeat of Polona Hercog of Slovenia.
Djokovic means business
Novak Djokovic roared his way into the fourth round with a 6-4 6-1 7-6(2) win over unpredictable Latvian Ernests Gulbis on Centre Court.
The 30-year-old Serb began slowly before taking control and then snuffed out a Gulbis counter-attack in the third set to set up a clash with Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
Djokovic, seeded two, looked fired up throughout the contest, telling the umpire to “focus” early on after some close line calls and then bellowing at himself after winning two points in the third-set tiebreak.
“I’m delighted, I raised my level of tennis today compared to the first two rounds,” Djokovic said.
“This was the most focussed I’ve been on the court for the last couple of weeks.”
Sam Querrey needed a matter of minutes to book his place in the last 16 when he polished off Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2 3-6 7-6(5) 1-6 7-5 after bad light had stopped play the day before.