The third round of 2022 Wimbledon got underway as the bottom half of the women's draw took to the court at the All-England Club.
Third seed Ons Jabeur was among the eight winners while fifth seed Maria Sakkari and former champion Angelique Kerber were upset.
Jabeur cruises past Parry; Mertens upsets Kerber
Jabeur won her eighth consecutive match on grass with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-3 victory over French teenager Diane Parry. The Tunisian has won seven of her last eight matches at Wimbledon.
Against the 19-year old, Jabeur won the first five games of the match and despite playing a much better second set, Parry watched as the Berlin champion claimed the final 14 points of the contest.
"It's honestly easy to go down every time she slices", Jabeur said. "But I love playing here. I want to keep it as short as I can. For now i'm just enjoying really playing on grass.
"Those few rounds is always tricky. I want to play my best tennis. I'm trying to keep focused. ...I'm always ready. I'm just trying to play my game and keep it as simple as possible for sure."
It looked as though a Round of 16 showdown with Kerber was on the cards, but the German was upset by 24th seed Elise Mertens with the Belgian coming out on top 6-4, 7-5.
Having not beaten a Top 20 player in over a year, Mertens needed an hour, 20 minutes to defeat the 2018 Wimbledon titlist for her second win in as many meetings against the German.
She converted five of seven break points and hit 18 winners while Kerber committed 28 unforced errors. Mertens, who saved two match points in the second round, came from a break down in the second set.
"It was a very difficult match in the second round (against Panna Udvardy), losing the first set, then down two match points. Playing a third set yesterday, so I kind of feel like I'm on court nonstop.
"That's also a good sign because I haven't had those matches in the last couple of weeks. I felt like 'OK, let's get some energy, some rallies, some matches in'.
"I think that really helped me for today, too, to know that even when you're down that you can come back, mentally being tough."
Tatjana Maria marked her comeback season from maternity leave with a huge upset of Sakkari, the 34-year old winning 6-3, 7-5 to reach the fourth round of a major for the first time.
"The first time in the last 16, so that's already amazing", she said. "To win against Sakkari today, that's pretty awesome. I think I played a good match from the beginning to the end."
Maria avenged a loss to the Greek from this year's Australian Open by playing a clean match, hitting 19 winners to just 12 unforced errors.
"The match against Sakkari at the Australian Open gave me confidence because I saw that I was super close. I knew that I have my chances. If I play clever and good, I can win this match."
12th seed Jelena Ostapenko booked a place in the second week of a major for the first time in four years after coming from a set down to defeat Irina-Camelia Begu 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
The Latvian, who reached the semifinals in 2018, watched Begu reel off the final four games of the first set to take the lead, but she lost just two games the rest of the way.
Other results
The Brits had something to cheer about as Heather Watson reached the fourth round of a major for the first time in her career as she defeated Kaja Juvan 7-6 (6), 6-2.
The 30-year old Watson rallied from a break down in the opening set and saw leads of 5-2 and 6-3 slip away in the tiebreaker before claiming it 8-6.
After racing out to a 5-0 lead in the second set, Watson saw the last three games of the match go to deuce, saving a trio of break points before finally coming through.
She'll face German Jule Niemier in the Round of 16. The 22-year old upset second seed Anett Kontaveit in the second round and knocked out the last remaining Ukrainian, Lesia Tsurenko 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Playing in just her second main draw at a major and first at Wimbledon, the 97th-ranked Niemeier struck 27 winners to just 20 for Tsurenko.
Marie Bouzkova and Caroline Garcia also scored upset victories. Bouzkova cruised past 28th seed Alison Riske-Amritraj 6-2, 6-3 while Garcia needed two tiebreakers to get past 33rd seed Shuai Zhang 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5).
The Czech and Frenchwoman will now face off with a spot in the last eight on the line, which would be a maiden quarterfinal berth at a major for either player.