Halep beats Peng to reach fourth round

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Second seed Simona Halep defeats Peng Shuai

Wimbledon 2017 on the BBC
Venue: All England Club Dates: 3-16 July Starts: 11:30 BST
Live: Coverage across BBC TV, BBC Radio and BBC Sport website with further coverage on Red Button, Connected TVs and app. Click for full times.

Simona Halep remains in contention to become world number one for the first time after beating Peng Shuai of China in straight sets to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Halep, second in the rankings behind Angelique Kerber, won 6-4 7-6 (9-7).

The Romanian needs to make the semi-finals at least to have a chance of moving to the top of the rankings.

Halep’s opponent in the last 16 will be Victoria Azarenka, who beat Britain’s Heather Watson to progress.

Former world number one Azarenka of Belarus is making her Grand Slam return at Wimbledon after giving birth in December.

Germany’s Kerber, meanwhile, plays American Shelby Rogers for a place in the last 16 on Saturday.

If Halep does reach the last four then Kerber needs to repeat her 2016 run to the final to retain hope of staying top of the rankings.

Cibulkova loses to teenager Konjuh

Slovakian eighth seed Dominika Cibulkova, who reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last year, was beaten 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-4 by Ana Konjuh of Croatia.

At 19, Konjuh is the youngest player into the fourth round of the women’s singles draw.