Former champion Petra Kvitova avoids upset to reach 4th round at Wimbledon

LONDON – Petra Kvitova avoided becoming the latest former champion to be knocked out in the first week at Wimbledon, rallying from a break down in the final set Saturday to beat Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 and reach the fourth round.

The match had been halted Friday with Makarova up 2-1 in the decider, but Kvitova broke right back when play resumed and won the next two games as well. After losing her own serve, the Czech player broke again for a 5-3 lead and then converted her third match point with a forehand winner.

"I didn't sleep very well, but that doesn't matter, I came on the court and tried to fight for every point," Kvitova said.

Kvitova won Wimbledon in 2011 but has struggled to match that performance since and has slipped from first to eighth in the rankings. She has a good chance of reaching her second final at the All England Club, however, having seen second-seeded Victoria Azarenka and former champion Maria Sharapova already eliminated on her side of the draw.

"It's still so far away," Kvitova said. "I'm the highest-ranked player (left) in my half, but there's still a lot of great players over there."

Later Saturday, top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were set to play their third-round matches, also looking to avoid further upsets after seven-time champion Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were both eliminated early.

Because of rain over the last two days, Wimbledon organizers were playing a bit of catch-up with the schedule on Saturday.

Among several other matches that had been postponed, No. 20 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia beat Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 to set up a fourth-round meeting with second-seeded Andy Murray, who won in straight sets on Friday.

Two more seeded players went out, as No. 22 Juan Monaco of Argentina fell 6-4, 7-6 (8), 6-4 to Frenchman Kenny De Schepper, while No. 26 Benoit Paire of France lost 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 to Lukasz Kubot of Poland.

As is traditional on the middle Saturday of the tournament, the Royal Box on Centre Court was filled with a number of invited sports stars, this year mainly British gold-medal winners from the London Olympics. Among those getting the biggest ovation from the crowd were cyclists Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton — as well as Murray, who donned a suit and tie to make a brief appearance in the box to celebrate his singles gold medal won on Centre Court.