Wimbledon Day 4: Davis stuns No. 5 Kerber     

U.S. players had plenty to celebrate on this Fourth of July at Wimbledon, as seven Americans advanced to the third round at the All England Club.

Twenty-five-year-old Ohio native Lauren Davis, a lucky loser into the Wimbledon main draw, posted one of the biggest wins of her career Thursday on Court No. 2, upsetting defending women's champion and No. 5 seed Angelique Kerber, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.

"[It's] definitely been incredible," Davis said in her post-match press conference. "I was super disappointed having lost last round of qualies. I found out less than two hours later that I got into main [draw]. I was ecstatic about that. It's honestly a dream being here. I played qualies last year, so I wasn't able to come here. But, yeah, it feels amazing."

Davis, who was once ranked as high as 26th in the world in May 2017 and is currently at No. 95, had 45 winners in the match, compared to 13 for the three-time Grand Slam champion. She broke Kerber's serve seven times on the day and won the last six games of the match.

Davis moves on to the third round of a major for the fifth time in her career and her second time at Wimbledon, having also reached the Round of 32 at the All England Club in 2014.  
    
Serena Williams also advanced Thursday, surviving a test from 18-year-old Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan. Williams, a seven-time champion at Wimbledon, dropped the first set of their second-round match before rallying for the 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win.

"She played well, and then I started out a little slow," said Williams, 37, who had no aces, hit four doubles faults and landed just 50 percent of her first serves in the first set. "It brings the best out of me, the pressure. I play best when I am down sometimes. I am a fighter. I never give up."

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion got things back on track in the second and third sets but had to withstand a final charge from Juvan in the final set after the teen fought back from two breaks of serve to bring the score to 5-4.

Williams, who had 25 winners and 26 unforced errors on the day, served out the match by blasting her sixth ace on championship point. She next faces No. 18 seed Julia Goerges of Germany in a rematch of their 2018 Wimbledon semifinal.

No. 9 seed Sloane Stephens cruised in her second-round match, dropping just two games total in a 6-0, 6-2, 54-minute win over Wang Yafan of China.

"I thought I played a good, solid match, obviously from the beginning, so I was happy with that," Stephens said. "I felt like I executed my game plan well, and that's all you can really do. I was just happy to get a good win today."

Up next for the 2017 US Open champion is British No. 1 Johanna Konta, the 19th seed.

A day after turning 29, veteran Alison Riske gave herself a belated birthday present, winning a two-hour, 50-minute marathon against Ivana Jorovic, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 9-7, to reach the Wimbledon third round for the fourth time in her career. The Pittsburgh native will take on No. 13 Belinda Bencic Saturday.

On the men’s side, Steve Johnson upset one of tennis' rising young stars, 20-year-old Aussie and No. 25 seed Alex de Minaur, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Johnson broke the 29th-ranked de Minaur in the next-to-last game of the match before serving out the win. He will play No. 8 seed Kei Nishikori in the third round.

Tennys Sandgren pulled off an upset, as well, taking out No. 20 Gilles Simon of France, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 8-6. Sandgren will meet No. 12 Fabio Fognini in Round 3.

2017 Wimbledon semifinalist Sam Querrey was also a winner on Day 4, defeating Russian Andrey Rublev, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3, in one hour, 36 minutes. Querrey, who ousted No. 5 seed Dominic Thiem in his opening match, next faces John Millman of Australia.

While seven Americans advanced Thursday, four others didn’t fare as well.

On the men’s side, No. 9 seed John Isner, a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year, lost his second-round match to 58th-ranked Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, while Taylor Fritz, who captured his first ATP title last week at Eastbourne, saw his six-match winning streak come to an end, falling to No. 33 Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (2).

On the women's side, Taylor Townsend failed to convert on match point against No. 4 seed Kiki Bertens and lost in three sets, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, and No. 25 seed Amanda Anisimova, a semifinalist at last month’s French Open, lost to Magda Linette of Poland, 6-4, 7-5.

Singles action continues on Friday at Wimbledon, with three Americans on the schedule. Fifteen-year-old phenom Cori "Coco" Gauff will take on Polona Hercog of Slovenia, Danielle Collins will face No. 24 Petra Martic of Croatia, and Reilly Opelka will square off against No. 15 Milos Raonic of Canada.

Williams will be back on court again, as well, teaming with Andy Murray in the first round of mixed doubles.