PIX: Serena wins marathon, Rosol's dream Wimbledon ends

A subdued Serena Williams recovered from a sluggish start to beat China's Zheng Jie 6-7, 6-2, 9-7 in a marathon Wimbledon third-round match on Saturday.

The American four-times Wimbledon champion struggled to cope with the windy conditions and Zheng, seeded 25th, served consistently throughout the first set before winning it 7-5 in the tiebreak.

The sixth-seeded Williams finally broke Zheng, Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2008, in the fifth game of the second set and she did so again in the seventh on the way to levelling the match.

Williams, 30, recovered from 0-40 down to hold serve in the fourth game of the third set and she made the decisive break in the 15th game before converting her third match point to set up a last-16 clash with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.

Champion Petra Kvitova sailed effortlessly into the fourth round at a sun-kissed Wimbledon on Saturday, sweeping aside American Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 6-0.

Kvitova's fearsome forehand demoralised the Uzbek-born Lepchenko, who did not have the weapons to challenge the ruthlessly efficient fourth seed.

The biggest cheer of the day on Court One was reserved for Lepchenko when she finally managed to hold serve in the sixth game of a woefully one-sided contest.

Kvitova maintained her razor-sharp concentration in the second set to complete a crushing victory.

Kvitova, who amazingly lost the first four matches she ever played on grass, now clearly revels on the surface.

The Czech has been steadily improving from round to round at Wimbledon, hoping that she can peak at just the right time as she did 12 months ago.

Looking ahead to her fourth round contest with former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, Kvitova said she would need to be on her guard as the Italian "will be aggressive in coming to the net".

Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova left French Open runner-up Sara Errani red-faced at Wimbledon on Saturday by becoming the first player to win a set in a Grand Slam tournament without conceding a point.

The first set disappeared in a 15-minute blur as Shvedova won 24 consecutive points - known as a golden set - in the third-round match on court three.

Tenth seed Errani fought back in the second but was powerless to stop Shvedova wrapping up a 6-0, 6-4 victory.

Shvedova is no stranger to blitzing through sets as she had owned the previous women's record of winning 23 consecutive points, during a second-round match against Amy Frazier, in Memphis in 2006.

Amongst the men, Bill Scanlon produced a golden set during his first-round 6-2, 6-0 win over Marcos Hocevar at Delray Beach in 1983.

Czech world 100 Lukas Rosol had caused one of the greatest upsets in the history of the sport when he beat world number two Nadal in five sets in the second round under the Centre Court roof on Thursday.

But on a windswept Court 12 on Saturday, normal service was resumed as German 27th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, who beat Nadal on grass at Halle two weeks ago, eased to a 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) win and a first appearance in the last 16.

Kohlschreiber, who claimed victory on a fourth match point, will tackle American qualifier Brian Baker for a place in the quarter-finals.

Former world number one Ana Ivanovic, the 14th seed, reached the last 16, coming from behind to clinch a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win against Germany's Julia Goerges.

Ivanovic will play second seed Victoria Azarenka, a semi-finalist in 2011, who put out Slovak qualifier, and world number 178, Jana Cepelova, 6-3, 6-3.

Also going through was Austria's Tamira Paszek, the first round conqueror of former number one Caroline Wozniacki.

Paszek enjoyed a 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 win over Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer and will face Italian 21st seed Roberta Vinci who defeated Croatia qualifier Mirjana Lucic in two tie-break sets.