Gauff tames Liu in Wimbledon 3rd round, Sabalenka beats Ostapenko

Seventh seed Coco Gauff reached the fourth round and matched her best Wimbledon display with a 6-3 6-7(5) 6-2 victory over fellow American Claire Liu to keep her bid for a third Grand Slam title alive.

The 22-year-old former US Open and French Open champion, who crashed in her opener at the All England Club 12 months ago, arrived under pressure to improve her modest grasscourt record and appeared to be in cruise control early on against Liu.

She eased through the opening set with minimum fuss and was on course for a routine victory when world number 146 Liu sprang to life and saved three match points in the second set, before forcing a tiebreak as the evening shadows engulfed Court One.

Gauff's passive approach in the tiebreak allowed qualifier Liu to take control and level the contest at one set apiece, but she quickly regained her rhythm in the decider and broke in the opening game by forcing an error with a deep backhand.

The double major champion's serve came under pressure from Liu in the games that followed, but there was no looking back when she built a 5-2 lead, as she earned a fourth-round clash with Swiss 11th seed Belinda Bencic.

Last year's semi-finalist and 11th seed Bencic stayed composed through the third-set tiebreak to beat 19th seed Anna Kalinskaya 6-4 4-6 7-6(10-6).

World number one and four-time Grand Slam winner Aryna Sabalenka powered past Jelena Ostapenko 6-4 6-4 to reach the fourth round.

The exchanges between the duo were fast and furious. A break in the fifth game handed Sabalenka the advantage which she never relinquished as she sealed the opening set with a 111 mph ace.

Ostapenko, the 2017 Roland Garros champion, saved one match point on her serve at 4-5 down in the second set but there was no reprieve one game later as the Belarusian top seed clenched her fist in victory after watching Ostapenko's service return float long.

Sabalenka had given herself an 8-out-of-10 rating for her first-round performance and 9-out-of-10 for the follow up.

The authoritative way she dispatched danger opponent Ostapenko on Friday meant she was now heading for perfection.

"She's really dangerous and the last match I played against her, I couldn't do anything. She just smashed me off the court," said Sabalenka, who will next face Naomi Osaka.

Elsewhere, American fourth seed Jessica Pegula is yet to drop a set in her campaign after a 6-1 6-3 win over Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro to reach the last 16.

American 16th seed Iva Jovic brushed aside 18th seed Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3 3-6 6-4 to advance to the fourth round for the first time.