London: For all the waspish energy and venomous hitting, it was Carlos Alcaraz's ability to turn up the dial under pressure that saw him come through a testing encounter with Nicolas Jarry and move safely into the Wimbledon fourth round on Saturday.
The world number one was frequently on the ropes against the imposing Chilean but always managed to find another gear as he wrapped up a 6-3 6-7(6) 6-3 7-5 victory on Centre Court to set up a tantalising encounter with either Alexander Zverev or Matteo Berrettini.
Meanwhile, a day after throwing cold water over British hopes by out-lasting Andy Murray in a five-set cliffhanger spanning two days on Centre Court, Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas dispatched Serbia's Laslo Djere in more straightforward fashion, winning 6-4 7-6(5) 6-4.
Equalling his best ever showing at Wimbledon, Daniil Medvedev downed Hungary's Marton Fucsovics 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 to reach the fourth round.
In the women's draw, Aryna Sabalenka kept up her perfect record against Russian Anna Blinkova with a 6-2 6-3 victory in the third round.
Petra Kvitova reached the fourth round for only the second time since triumphing at the All England Club nine years ago with a 6-3 7-5 win over Serbian qualifier Natalija Stevanovic in a rain-disrupted encounter.
Alcaraz's trial by fire
What had looked like being a routine outing for Alcaraz when he claimed the first set after a solitary break, quickly turned into something more troublesome as Jarry raced into a 4-1 lead in the second.
While Alcaraz clawed back parity, the Chilean served like his life depended on it to level the match in the tiebreak.
Alcaraz got his nose in front once more but if he hoped to have dealt a decisive blow by winning the third set, Jarry had other ideas, racing into a 3-0 lead at the start of the fourth.
That, however, brought out the best in the Spaniard who finished off the contest with two further breaks, wrapping up the match with two massive serves that were just too hot for Jarry to handle.
