Rogers nearly upsets Kerber on Day 6 at Wimbledon

Shelby Rogers nearly notched the biggest win of her career Saturday, as the 24-year-old American took world No. 1 and 2016 ladies' finalist Angelique Kerber to three sets before falling, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, in the third round at Wimbledon.
 
Rogers took an early lead in the match, breaking the top seed's serve in the third game of the first set and then holding serve the remainder of the set to win, 6-4.

In the second set, the German lefty was down a break but fought her way back into the match, breaking Rogers' serve in the seventh game to level the score at 4-4. She eventually won the set in a tiebreak, 7-2, to force a third and decisive set.

Kerber kept her momentum going at the beginning of the final set, breaking the American early to go up 2-0. Rogers broke back at 2-all and the players remained on serve until the German broke Rogers for a 4-3 lead. She then held on, winning the set, 6-4, and the match in two hours, 17 minutes.

Kerber, who will take on 2016 French Open champion and 2015 Wimbledon runner-up Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain in the fourth round Monday, is now 2-0 against the South Carolina native. The reigning US Open champion had won their previous meeting in March – a 6-4, 7-5 victory in Miami.

Rogers, ranked 70th, had never won a main-draw match at Wimbledon before this year. Her previous best Grand Slam result was a quarterfinal finish at the French Open in 2016.

In other Day 6 action, seven minutes was all Sam Querrey needed to advance to the fourth round in the men's draw.

A day after the No. 24 seed's third-round match against No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was suspended because of darkness, Querrey broke the Frenchman's serve in a seven-minute game to win the match, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-5, and advance to the second week of Wimbledon for the second straight year and the third time in his career.

Querrey, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon last year, will take on former Top 10 player Kevin Anderson in the fourth round.

No. 24 seed CoCo Vandeweghe also advanced Saturday, defeating fellow American and Fed Cup teammate Alison Riske, 6-2, 6-4, to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon for the third straight year.

Vandeweghe, who improves her career record against Riske to 5-4, has not dropped a set in her first three matches of the tournament. Now coached by 1987 Wimbledon men's champion Pat Cash, Vandeweghe has posted the best Grand Slam results of her career at Wimbledon, with a quarterfinal finish in 2015 and an appearance in the fourth round last year.

Riske exits 2017 Wimbledon after equaling her previous best showing at the tournament. She also reached the third round in both 2013 and 2014.

In other men's action, rising American star Jared Donaldson saw his Wimbledon run come to an end, falling in straight sets to No. 8 Dominic Thiem of Austria, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2. Donaldson, 20 and ranked 67th in the world, was playing in his first Wimbledon main draw in 2017. He defeated Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the first round and No. 32 Paolo Lorenzi of Italy in the second before his loss to Thiem in the third round.

Junior play kicked off on Day 6, as well, with recently crowned French Open girls' champion and No. 2 seed Whitney Osuigwe easily winning her first-round match. Americans Hailey Baptiste, Ellie Douglas, Ann Li and Danny Thomas also advanced.

In men's doubles, three-time champions Bob and Mike Bryan lost their second-round match to Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Max Mirnyi of Belarus, and Jack Sock and Madison Keys fell in the second round of mixed doubles to No. 2 seeds Bruno Soares of Brazil and Elena Vesnina of Russia.