Serena's path clearing

Serena Williams boosted her chances of winning an eighth Wimbledon and 24th Grand Slam by making the fourth round at the All England Club on Friday as big sister Venus fell victim to the curse of the seeds.

Serena, seeded 25 this year, enjoyed a 7-5, 7-6 (7/2) win over France's Kristina Mladenovic to set up a last-16 duel with Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina. Victory on Centre Court, sealed with a 13th ace, came 20 minutes after Venus, a five-time champion, had slumped to a 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 8-6 loss to Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands over on Court One.

Only two of the top 10 seeds remain in the women's draw -- number one Simona Halep, who plays her third round match on Saturday, and seventh seed Karolina Pliskova who came back from 1-4 down in the second set to defeat Mihaela Buzarnescu 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1.

Also exiting was 10th seed Madison Keys, who had made at least the quarter-finals of her last three majors. The American lost 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 to Rodina, ranked 120th in the world.

Federer took his consecutive sets won at Wimbledon to 29 in what was his 200th career grass court match. The eight-time champion will face French 22nd seed Adrian Mannarino on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.

German fourth seed Alexander Zverev made the third round, seeing off Taylor Fritz of the United States 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (0/7), 6-1, 6-2 and faces Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis for a spot in the last 16. Zverev had trailed two sets to one when his tie with Fritz was halted due to darkness on Thursday. But the 21-year-old raced away with the last two sets in Friday's bright sunshine.

Russia's Ekaterina Makarova defied second round victim Wozniacki's churlish prediction that she wouldn't progress further in the tournament by reaching the last 16. Makarova, who made the quarter-finals four years ago, beat a weary-looking Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

South Africa's Kevin Anderson, seeded eight, swept past Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 on the back of 22 aces and 42 winners. Anderson has reached the last 16 for the fourth time and goes on to face France's Gael Monfils.