French Open champion Alexander Zverev continued building momentum and kept alive his hopes of winning a second Grand Slam title at the expense of American Marcos Giron.
The German made reasonably swift work of his third-round tie to win 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 on Court One.
Zverev, who lost his first three major finals, is aiming to profit in the absence of two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz.
He was beaten in the first round last year and has never been beyond the fourth round at SW19 in nine previous attempts.
“I feel different than last year – I feel I play better tennis in important moments and have more confidence,” Zverev said.
“I want to keep going, play a lot more great matches, and enjoy my time here on court.
“Winning in Paris, coming in with a title like that helps everybody. It doesn’t matter how many titles you’ve won. For me it was my first one.”
Zverev’s hopes of going the distance have been boosted by the fact that he cannot face either defending champion Jannik Sinner or seventh seed Novak Djokovic before the final.
Next up for the world number three is Czech 13th seed Jiri Lehecka, who came through against Spain’s Jaume Munar in four sets.
Earlier, fifth seed Alex de Minaur dropped his first set of the tournament but came through against American Zachary Svajda 6-2 5-7 6-2 6-4.
Australia’s De Minaur will face a fourth-round match against Italy’s Flavio Cobolli, seeded ninth, who earned a dramatic five-set win over Russia’s Karen Khachanov.
Cobolli, who lost in last month’s French Open final, was bagelled in the opening set but recovered to win 0-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-2 on court two.
American sixth seed Taylor Fritz, who reached the semi-finals last year, also came from a set down to beat Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego 4-6 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-5).
Kazakhstan’s 10th seed Alexander Bublik is next up for Fritz in round four after he beat American Frances Tiafoe 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (13-11) 4-6 6-3.
