Amelie Mauresmo booked her place in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon for the third time after recovering from a slow start to beat Russian Elena Likhovtseva 6-4 6-0 on Court One this afternoon.
The third seeded Frenchwoman, who reached the last four at the All England Club 12 months ago, had not dropped a set going into today's encounter, at the loss of just 11 games.
However, Mauresmo looked somewhat sluggish as she opened up the match with a series of uncharacteristic wild strokes, which saw her lose her serve and trail 2-0. Some more over-hit returns also gifted Likhovtseva game six.
The 25-year-old world number three, though, swiftly secured a second break of her own, and kept the pressure on to do so again in the ninth game before then holding her own serve to close out the set 6-4 in 39 minutes.
More clever net play - a trademark of the Frenchwoman at these championships - handed Mauresmo an early break-point in the first game of the second set, which was secured when Likhovtseva, the 13th seed and world number 17, sent a deep return just wide from the baseline.
Mauresmo was soon in command at 3-0, the two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist now producing her full range of passing shots and net volleys, the combination of which Likhovtseva could just not cope with.
The former world number one again broke the 29-year-old Russian in game five, this time with a superb cross-court backhand. That left Mauresmo serving for the match, with victory secured in just over an hour to book a place in the quarter-finals, where she will face either of Russians Anastasia Myskina, who is seeded nine, or Elena Dementieva, the sixth seed.
