On the women’s side, top seed Iga Świątek of Poland was given a big scare by Olympic champion Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, with Świątek saving match points in the second set before prevailing in three.

Bencic took set one on a tie-break 7-6, and in set two earned two match points with the score at 6-5, but was unable to convert.

Świątek made her pay as she took set two on a tie-break 7-6, and then showed all her champion qualities to take the decider 6-3 and claim victory in three hours and three minutes on Centre Court.

At the same time, another marathon ladies singles encounter was being played out on Court One, with Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina defeating neutral athlete Victoria Azarenka over three sets.

Azarenka, the 19^th seed, won the opening set 6-2, before Svitolina responded to win the second set 6-4.

The decider went all the way to a tie-break, and after some gruelling rallies and thrilling tennis Svitolina prevailed 7-6, with a final score of 11 points to nine in the tie-break, in a match lasting two hours and 46 minutes.

Prior to the match, Svitolina had reiterated that regardless of the result she would not shake hands with Azarenka at the end, maintaining her stance of not exchanging a handshake with players from Russia and Belarus due to the war in Ukraine.

There was no handshake, which led to some of the crowd booing Azarenka as she left the court.

Afterwards Azarenka claimed the reaction was "unfair" and asked: "What should I have done? Stayed and waited" {at the net}.

There was also a marathon men’s match to start the day on Centre Court with neutral athlete and seventh seed Andrey Rublev defeating Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, the 23^rd seed, in five sets.

Rublev opened a two-set lead with scorelines of 7-5 and 6-3, before Bublik won sets three and four on tie-breaks to level the contest.

Rublev then triumphed in set five, with a crucial moment a diving winner on the penultimate point, as the final score ended 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4 in three hours and 17 minutes.

Elsewhere, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic opened a two-set lead over Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, winning the first two sets on tie-breaks 7-6, before play was suspended due to a curfew in the local area, which prohibits action continuing past 11pm local time.

Men’s eighth seed Jannik Sinner of Italy won in three close sets against Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galan 7-6, 6-4, 6-3.

In the women’s singles, fourth seed Jessica Pegula of the United States cruised past Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-3.

Fourth-round action in the singles competitions is due to conclude tomorrow (Monday).