Murray marches on into last 16

Britain's sole survivor Andy Murray reached the last 16 at Wimbledon yesterday after surviving his toughest test yet against German Tommy Haas.

The 21-year-old Scot, seeded 12, came through 6-4 6-7 6-3 6-2 to move into the second week where he will face flamboyant Frenchman Richard Gasquet for a place in his first grand slam quarter-final.

In the women's competition, a ruthless Venus Williams and a hobbling Jelena Jankovic restored some order to the draw yesterday to keep their grand slam hopes alive.

Champion Williams, seeking a fifth title at the All England Club, dispatched Spanish qualifier Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1 7-5 and heads for a fourth-round meeting with little-known Russian Alisa Kleybanova.

Second seed Jankovic has yet to make the final of a grand slam and the Serb's hopes of progressing further in the tournament will depend much on how quickly she recovers from a knee injury sustained in her 2-6 6-4 6-2 win over Danish 17-year-old Caroline Wozniacki.

Murray played sublime tennis to lead by a set and a break before Haas pounced on a temporary lapse to level the match on a tiebreak.

Haas missed an easy volley on a break point at 1-1 in the third set when Murray was wobbling and he was made to pay in the next game when he dropped serve.

Murray seized control again and Haas hardly got a look in as the home favourite surged to victory with some dazzling tennis.

Gasquet survived the cull of seeds at this year's Wimbledon to reach the fourth round with a 6-3 6-3 6-7 6-3 win over fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon.

Following the exit of five of the top eight men's seeds, Gasquet overcame a third set blip to join Roger Federer in the second week of the grasscourt championships.

Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic followed his suprise second round victory over sixth seed Andy Roddick with a 7-6 7-6 6-3 win over Russia's 25th seed Dmitry Tursunov in the third round.

Tipsarevic, who took world number one Federer to five sets before losing in this year's Australian Open, will face the experienced 32-year-old German Rainer Schuettler in the fourth round tomorrow.

Following the shock exits of top seed Ana Ivanovic and former champion Maria Sharapova and, with Serena Williams also hitting her stride, the Williams sisters are now favourites to contest their third final at the All England Club on July 5.

Venus Williams had little more than a comfortable work-out against Martinez Sanchez, racing into a 5-0 lead and though her 101st ranked opponent interrupted the run, the 28-year-old American sealed the set.

The Spaniard provided stiffer resistance in the second before Williams ended the match with her fastest delivery of the day, a 204 kph thunderbolt.

"I was happy with that one," Williams told reporters. "The first set was pretty clean. The second set she just changed her strategy, started playing better and got that break back. I played aggressive to get the break back.

"You know, I was pretty happy because she started putting some pressure on. I had some good answers."

Jankovic strained her left knee at the start of the match but came through 2-6 6-4 6-2.

The 23-year-old, clearly struggling to move around the court, took a medical timeout at the start of the third set but, despite wincing in pain at the end of every point, was able to subdue Wozniacki before heading for the treatment table.

Despite Sharapova's early exit, four Russian women booked their places in the last 16.

Alla Kudryavtseva, conqueror of the 2004 champion and third seed on Thursday, continued her dream run by ousting China's Peng Shuai 6-3 1-6 6-4 while fifth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva stayed on course to match her run to the quarter-finals two years ago with a 7-6 7-5 win over Argentine Gisela Dulko.

Nadia Petrova, seeded 21, put out 16th-seeded Belarussian Victoria Azarenka 7-6 7-6 and Kleybanova beat Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-4 6-4.

Ninth seed Dinara Safina missed out on setting up a rematch with fellow Russian Dementieva when she was harried out of the third round 7-5 6-7 8-6 by Israel's Shahar Peer.

Late result: Nadal (Spain) bt Kiefer (Germany) 7-6 6-2 6-3.