World number one Aryna Sabalenka survived a tough test from American McCartney Kessler on Wednesday, battling back from 2-5 down in the second set and saving four set points before closing out a 6-1, 7-6 (11/9) win on Court One to reach the Wimbledon third round. The top seed and four-time Grand Slam champion, who has now reached 14 consecutive major quarterfinals, described the match as "a true battle," crediting Kessler for raising her level and forcing the extended tiebreak. Kessler, last year's Nottingham grass-court champion, shifted tactics after dropping the first set, attacking the net aggressively and winning 11 of 15 net points in the second set to push Sabalenka to the brink. Sabalenka said she relied on a simple mental cue down the stretch β€” staying low and putting pressure back on her opponent β€” to close out the win with her 32nd winner of the match. The victory extended Sabalenka's remarkable tiebreak form: she has now won 21 consecutive Grand Slam tiebreaks, an Open Era record, improving her 2026 tiebreak record to 9-2. Despite the dominance in pressure moments, Sabalenka has yet to lift the Wimbledon trophy, having reached the semifinals in each of her last three appearances at the All England Club. She next faces 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, who cruised into the third round with a commanding 6-2, 6-0 win over Croatia's Antonia Ruzic in just 66 minutes β€” a sharp turnaround from her error-prone first-round win over Harriet Dart, which included 13 double faults. Against Ruzic, Ostapenko struck 34 winners to only 10 unforced errors. Sabalenka leads their head-to-head series 3-1, though Ostapenko won their most recent meeting in the 2025 Stuttgart final, a result Sabalenka will be looking to avenge on grass.