Maria downs Ostapenko to reach Wimbledon quarters

It was the biggest victory for the mother of two who came back from maternity leave just under a year ago and she will play Briton Heather Watson or fellow German Jule Niemeier in the last eight. The 25-year-old Ostapenko, who reached the semi-finals at the grasscourt Grand Slam a year after her maiden major title at Roland Garros in 2017, made a wobbly start by surrendering her serve early to trail 1-3.

But the Latvian immediately regained composure to level the scores before switching gears to go ahead 6-5 and took the first set after world number 103 Maria made unforced errors in crucial points. Maria, at 34 the oldest player left in the women's draw, had impressed in her stunning straight sets-victory over fifth seed Maria Sakkari in the last round and she hit back from 1-4 down in the next set before forcing a decider.

Having saved two match points in the second set at 4-5 and with the crowd firmly behind her, Maria capitalised on a mistake from 12th seed Ostapenko to go up 6-5 in a see-saw third set before sealing the match on serve.