Robson survives scare

British favorite Laura Robson fought off Marina Erakovic 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 to clinch a spot in the fourth round at Wimbledon on Saturday. The victory makes the 38th-ranked Robson the first British woman to advance to the Round of 16 since 1998. The 19-year-old former Wimbledon junior champion, playing on Court Two, was three points from losing in straight sets, having dropped the first set to the 71st-ranked Erakovic. Also on Saturday, 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 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 third set, but the eighth-seeded 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. 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, before Sunday's rest day. 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 against unseeded opposition, as No. 22 Juan Monaco of Argentina fell 6-4, 7-6 (8), 6-4 to Frenchman Kenny De Schepper, while No. 26 Benoit Paireof France lost 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 to Lukasz Kubot of Poland. No. 11 seed Roberta Vinci made it an even better day for Italy, cruising past No. 18 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-1, 6-4.

Indians advance Indian players enjoyed a fine outing at the Wimbledon with the seasoned trio of Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna won their respective men's doubles matches to progress into the third round. Fourth seeds Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek sailed past Britain's Jamie Delgado and Australia's Matthew Ebden in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 55 minutes. Eight seeded Indo-Austrian pair of Bhupathi and Julian Knowle came from a set down to get the better off Nicholas Monroe of the US and German Simon Stadler 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in a tough battle that lasted for two hours and 22 minutes. They will now take on the Canadian pair of Jesse Levine and Vasek Pospisil. Bopanna and his French-partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin had to fight hard before prevailing over Daniel Brands and Lukas Rosol in a gruelling five setter of three-hour duration. For Paes, unlike his first round encounter which was a keenly contested four setter, the second round battle was a virtual cakewalk.