Erakovic into Wimbledon third round

Marina Erakovic has scored one of the best victories of her career winning through to the third round of Wimbledon this morning.

Erakovic who entered the tournament with a ranking of 149 beat former world no.1 and current 22nd seed Jelena Jankovic in two hours 32 minutes 4-6 7-6(1) 8-6.

Erakovic served well with an 80 per cent first serve and played a high-risk game which came off with 46 winners and 43 errors, she also won 30 of 38 points at net.

In the third round she will face Spanish 12th seed Carla Suarez Navarro whom she has a 1-1 record against having played each other twice in 2013, once on clay (Suarez Navarro) and once on hardcourt (Erakovic). They play second on court 17 on Saturday morning (NZT)

Already Erakovic won three qualifying matches and beat American Irina Falconi in the first round.

"The last couple of weeks have been great. Im playing good tennis. I had a bit of a rusty start and chipped away and then found my rhythm today," said Erakovic who tried not to let the rain delays over the past few days "You cant control the weather, you just have to deal with it. Against Carla I have to play my game and just focus on myself. Shes had good results on grass and hard court, not just clay."

It is the third time Erakovic has made the third round at Wimbledon (2008 and 2013) but more importantly will move her ranking back towards and possibly inside the top 100 again and give her confidence in her game after a tough 12 months or injuries and mixed form.

In mens doubles sixteenth seeds Michael Venus and Croatian partner Mate Pavic won their first round match beating Australian Chris Guccione and Brazils Andre Sa 7-6(3) 6-3.

Unfortunately Macus Daniell and American Bran Baker were defeated by 13th seeds, Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-3 6-7(2) 3-6 in one hour 53 minutes and Artem Sitak and former US Open winner Julian Knowle from Austria lost their match to Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner and Pakistans Aisam Qureshi 7-6(4) 6-3.

Venus will be back on court for his first round mixed doubles on Saturday (NZT) where he teams with Argentine Maria Irigoyen against Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) and Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spain). Also playing his first round mixed will be Artem Sitak with Germanys Laura Siegemund against Florin Mergea (Romania) and Tamira Paszek (Austria).

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from New Zealand Tennis