Angelique Kerber is hoping a dangerous close shave proves the turning point not only in her Wimbledon campaign, but her entire season.
Shrugging off a scheduling snub, the struggling world No.1 survived a scare to reach the second week at the All England Club with a fighting 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 third-round win over big-serving American Shelby Rogers.
Runner-up to Serena Williams last year, Kerber hopes the escape against the 70th-ranked Rogers can spark another title push after just one quarter-final showing from the German in her past five events.
Such a fall from grace comes after the German last year became the first woman apart from Williams in a decade to contest three grand slam finals in a season.
"It was for sure a really important win for me today, especially because it was a really up-and-down match," said Kerber, the 2016 Australian Open champion.
"Maybe it is a turnaround. We will see."
The top seed was forced to play on Court 2 on Saturday but refused to make a fuss, despite no men's world No.1 having been seen anywhere but Centre Court or Court 1 this century.
"Doesn't matter which court. I just go out there, try to play my game," Kerber said.
Kerber next faces 2015 finalist Garbine Muguruza for a place in the quarter-finals after the Spanish 14th seed ousted Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-2 6-2 in just 70 minutes.
Yet another former runner-up to Williams, Polish ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, also progressed to the last 16 with a 3-6 6-4 6-1 victory over Swiss Timea Bacsinszky.
Radwanska, the 2012 finalist, will play seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round after the Russian veteran blew away Slovenia's Polona Hercog 6-4 6-0.
Fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki came within two points of elimination before squeezing out a 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 win over Estonian Anett Kontaveit.
"I'm just happy I survived today," said Wozniacki, who will face another stern test against American heavy hitter Coco Vandeweghe on Monday.
An Australian Open semi-finalist this year, Vandeweghe powered past fellow American Alison Riske 6-2 6-4, while Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova continued her fine grasscourt run with a 6-2 6-1 rout of Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko.
Rybarikova next meets Croatian qualifier Petra Martic, who progressed with a 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 defeat of Zarina Diyas, the Kazakh wildcard winner over Australia's last hope Arina Rodionova.
Women's fourth-round match-ups at Wimbledon on Monday:
1-Angelique Kerber (GER) v 14-Garbine Muguruza (ESP)
7-Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) v 9-Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)
Petra Martic (CRO) v Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK)
5-Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) v 24-Coco Vandeweghe (USA)
10-Venus Williams (USA) v 27-Ana Konjuh (CRO)
4-Elina Svitolina (UKR) v 13-Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)
6-Johanna Konta (GBR) v 21-Caroline Garcia (FRA)
2-Simona Halep (ROM) v Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
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