Four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek avoided joining Wimbledon's lengthy list of fallen seeds by stylishly battling back to beat world number 208 Caty McNally.
The 24-year-old – a five-time major winner, having also claimed the 2022 US Open title – was in danger of seeing her comparatively woeful SW19 record continue after blowing a 4-1 lead to drop the opening set.
But she responded impressively in the Centre Court sunshine to prevail 5-7 6-2 6-1 in two hours and 25 minutes.
Reigning champion Barbora Krejcikova and 2022 winner Elena Rybakina also progressed to round three on day four of the Championships.
World number four Swiatek was Wimbledon girls’ champion in 2018 but has only a single quarter-final appearance at the senior level of the tournament on an otherwise-impressive CV.
With the women’s draw wide open following the elimination of five of the top 10 seeds, including last year’s runner-up Jasmine Paolini and current French Open champion Coco Gauff, the clay-court specialist was in serious danger of becoming the latest scalp.
American McNally, who had a career-high ranking of 54 prior to recent injury issues and beat Britain’s Jodie Burrage in round one, stunned her rival by winning six of seven consecutive games to snatch the first set.
Yet the 23-year-old was victorious in only three more as Pole Swiatek marched on to a meeting with former Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins after finishing with an ace.
Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina barely needed to shift out of second gear as the 11th seed motored into the third round of the grasscourt Grand Slam with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Greek Maria Sakkari.
Rybakina was gifted a break in the opening game when Sakkari produced three successive double faults and the 2022 Wimbledon champion held firm from there to wrap up the opening set with minimum fuss in front of a sparse crowd on Court One.
The 26-year-old dropped her serve in the opening game of the next set but responded immediately to get things back on track and then broke to love for a 3-1 lead, before proceeding to take apart former world number three Sakkari.
A backhand error on match point compounded Sakkari's woes and Rybakina celebrated the victory in typically muted fashion, with either Denmark's 23rd-seeded Clara Tauson or Russian Anna Kalinskaya awaiting her in the next round.
Seventh seed Mirra Andreeva blasted her way into round three at Wimbledon on Thursday with a 6-1 7-6 (7-4) victory over Italy's Lucia Bronzetti and thanked her coach, former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez, for making her work hard.
The 18-year-old Russian was the only teenager from six women's starters to have made it through to the second round and she looked sure-footed on Wimbledon's grass, the surface where she hit the headlines aged 16 with a whirlwind race to the fourth round in 2023.
She completely dominated her 26-year-old opponent in the first set on Thursday using her big serve, heavy slice and neat net play to wrap it up in 23 minutes.
But she had a fight on her hands in the second as Bronzetti, ranked a lowly 63, found her stride and range in the second. Andreeva eventually triumphed on her second match point in the tiebreak, with a fine forehand volley winner.
