Wimbledon Women's Draw: Number one seed Ana Ivanovic has survived a real scare from France's Nathalie Dechy to record a marathon win in three sets and secure her place in round three of Wimbledon.
The French Open champion and top seed needed to save two match points before wrapping up a 6-7 7-6 10-8 victory on Court One.
Dechy looked all set to record the biggest shock of the tournament when one set ahead and poised to take the second, but a fortunate net cord saved a match point for Ivanovic, and she took the tie-break, before eventually winning the final set in the 18th game.
The Serbian will meet china's Zheng Jie after she beat Britain's Elena Baltacha 6-2 7-5.
So relieved was Ivanovic after the match that on commiserating with Dechy she immediately ran to the spot on the net that had afforded her the good fortune to give it a grateful kiss.
"From that point on I just thought of the match as a second chance," she said afterwards.
"I couldn't believe it, I was so lucky," she added. "It was really, really close and only a few balls decided it."
The pair were deservedly given a standing ovation after their seesaw battle of nerves and the 20-year-old Ivanovic said: "I was really happy I managed to stay calm...It was an amazing match."
WOMEN'S ROUND-UP: Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova booked her place in the third round of Wimbledon with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Kateryna Bondarenko in a match lasting just over an hour on Centre Court.
The fourth seed could come up against Alona Bondarenko, Kateryna's older sister, should the 28th seed defeat Barbara Zahlovova Strycova.
Marion Bartoli continues to show a liking for the Wimbledon grass - the French 11th seed was a straight sets winner over Tatiana Perebiynis of Ukraine.
Eighth seed Anna Chakvetadze strolled into the last 32 with a 6-2 6-2 demolition of Romania's Edina Gallovits.
The Russian struggled against Stephanie Dubois in her opening match, but was much more in control as she beat Gallovits to advance to a meeting with either Evgeniya Rodina or Elena Vesnina.
Last year's beaten finalist now faces Bethanie Mattek - a straight-sets winner over Vera Dushevina - in round three and remains on course for a possible clash with Serena Williams in the last 16.
Williams was sent out to play her match against Urszula Radwanska on Court 2 - the so-called graveyard of champions - but she emerged a straight-sets winner.
The number six seed, a two-time champion, won 6-4 6-4 and faces an intriguing match against 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo, who came back to beat Virginia Ruano-Pascual 4-6 6-1 6-1.
The number six seed, a two-time champion, won 6-4 6-4 and faces the winner of the match between 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo and Virginie Ruano-Pascual.
Nicole Vaidisova, the 18th seed, overcame a major wobble in her clash with Australian Samantha Stosur to book a place in the third round.
The Czech cruised through the first set 6-2, but then lost nine straight games to find herself 0-3 down in the deciding set. She regrouped admirably, though, and eventually served out to record a 6-2 0-6 6-4 victory.
Hungarian 15th seed Agnes Szavay needed to fight back from a set down before securing a 5-7 7-5 6-2 win over Monica Niculescu of Romania.
Fifth seed Elena Dementieva came through her first round match against Maria Elena Camerin, which was delayed in the fading light on last night.
The Russian won 6-3 6-7 6-3 to earn a second round tie against Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland.