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Top-seeded Angelique Kerber rallied from a set and a break down to hold off the upset bid of American Shelby Rogers in the third round at Wimbledon on Saturday. The world No. 1 from Germany returned to the fourth round and the second week for the third time in the past four years with a 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory at the All England Club in London.
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Kerber was the runner-up to Serena Williams at the Grand Slam event last year during her breakthrough season. Kerber won her first two major titles at the Australian Open and U.S. Open in 2016.
After dropping the opening set, Kerber trailed 3-1 in the second to Rogers, who had never been past the first round in two previous appearances at the grass-court major.
CoCo Vandeweghe, the No. 24 seed, is back into the Round of 16 for the third year on a row after defeating fellow American Alison Riske 6-2, 6-4 in one hour, 15 minutes.
Vandeweghe fired seven aces and won 85 percent of points behind her first delivery.
Vandeweghe will next face the winner between No. 5 seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Anett Kontaveit of Estonia for a spot in the quarterfinals.
No. 14 seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain reached the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Sorana Cirstea of Romania.
Muguruza, the 2015 Wimbledon runner-up and 2016 French Open champion, finished with 18 winners and only 10 unforced errors. She did not drop a set during the first week.
"I'm feeling pretty good. I felt today I improve a little bit my game compared to the previous matches," Muguruza said after her third round. "I'm happy the way I'm playing out there. It's not easy. I'm working hard. I'm kind of doing what I'm working on.
"It's great obviously 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."
Cirstea had advanced to the third round when her previous opponent, American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, suffered a gruesome knee injury during the third set on Thursday.
Seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia made her way into the second week of a Grand Slam for the 32nd time in her career with a 6-4, 6-0 trouncing of qualifier Polona Hercog of Slovenia in 65 minutes.
Ninth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat No. 19 seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Radwanska came to the All England Club after battling a foot injury for most of the season.
Unseeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia advanced to the fourth round for the first time with a 6-2, 6-1 beating of Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine.
