After six days of ladies’ singles play jam-packed with upsets and surprises, Angelique Kerber will line up in the last 16 on Monday as the only former champion left in the draw.

On the back of the longest ladies’ match since 2011 - the German’s three-hour-plus marathon to get past Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo in the second round - the 2018 champion needed another three sets to advance, this time to see off Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Kerber, the No.25 seed, rallied after a slow start to come through 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 in a three-set match that this time only lasted an hour and 15 minutes.

“It's always a good feeling when the grass court season starts,” said Kerber, who is now on an eight-match winning streak after claiming the 13th trophy of her career in Bad Homburg prior to The Championships.

“I played very well the last few weeks on grass. It's great being back here in Wimbledon, especially reaching now the second week. This is always a goal when you start a Grand Slam.”

The three-time major champion - the 33-year-old lifted the Australian and US Open trophies in 2016 - knows, however, that things might be about to get a lot more complicated when she steps on court with American teenager Coco Gauff on Monday.

“She's really putting all the effort she has in every single match so I know that it will be tough,” Kerber said. “I know that I have to play some of my best tennis against her. This is the goal, to go out there and try to focus on me.”

If Kerber’s form is impressive then how about Barbora Krejcikova, who notched her 15th successive victory with a 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 result over Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova.

The Czech No.14 seed won in Strasbourg before sweeping both singles and doubles trophies at Roland-Garros and is now into the last 16 at Wimbledon on her singles debut in SW19.

Another player who has backed up an excellent Paris campaign is the Spaniard Paula Badosa. The No.30 seed made the last eight on the clay and beat Magda Linette 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 to move into the second week on the south-west London grass.

Recent Queen’s champion Matteo Berrettini continued his smooth progress into the second week too, brushing aside Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

The win marked the Italian No.1’s 100th Tour victory and continues his trend of consistency at the biggest events in 2021. The No.7 seed reached the last 16 in Melbourne, the last eight in Paris and will have hopes of continuing his progress on British turf.

Italy can boast two players in the fourth round of the men’s singles for the first time since 1955 after Lorenzo Sonego, last week’s Eastbourne runner-up, beat Australian James Duckworth 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Young Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the Miami Masters 1000 champion from April, is into the second week at a Grand Slam for the first time. The No.14 seed is yet to drop a set after his 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 success against Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik.

And there was another career milestone, this time for Belarusian world No.79 Ilya Ivashka, who is into his maiden Grand Slam round of 16 after seeing off Jordan Thompson in straight sets.

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