Wimbledon: Venus Williams eases through to quarter-finals but No 1 Kerber bows out

On a hectic second Monday of the championships, five-time Wimbledon champion Williams produced a rock-solid 6-3 6-2 victory over Croatian 19-year-old Ana Konjuh on Centre Court.

And that teed up an appointment on Tuesday with Latvian 20-year-old Ostapenko, who was a 6-3 7-6 (8/6) winner against Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina.

Ostapenko needed eight match points to get over the line, and the 13th seed’s cry of “Come on!” when Svitolina netted on the last of those was a declaration of her relief.

German left-hander Kerber needed to reach the final for a second successive year to stay at the top of the rankings.

But after struggling through the first six months of the season, a collision with Spaniard Garbine Muguruza looked to be loaded with peril for Kerber and eventually it proved that way as the 2015 runner-up beat last year’s beaten finalist 4-6 6-4 6-4.

Both Kerber and Muguruza lost in their Wimbledon finals to Serena Williams, whose absence this year as she awaits the birth of her first child has left the draw unusually open.

Kerber will surrender the No 1 ranking on Monday to either Romanian Simona Halep, who must reach the semi-finals, or Karolina Pliskova.

Muguruza goes on to tackle veteran Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who downed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 6-4 to reach her fourth Wimbledon quarter-final but first for 10 years.

Kuznetsova first reached the last eight in 2003, repeating the run in 2005 and 2007, and a fourth quarter-final appearance for the 32-year-old seventh seed was secured with a clinical performance against Polish player Radwanska, the 2012 runner-up.

American Coco Vandeweghe may be only the 24th seed but she has been strongly fancied to do well this fortnight since day one, with her attacking game perfectly suited to the grass.

Coached here by 1987 men’s Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, she marched on with an impressive 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 victory over fifth seed, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki.