The Latest: Kuznetsova says ‘politics’ behind Olympic ban

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on Wimbledon (all times local):

6:40 p.m.

Svetlana Kuznetsova says politics is behind the ban on Russia’s track and field athletes from the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The 13th-seeded Russian beat American Sloane Stephens 6-7 (1), 6-2, 8-6 on Sunday, setting up a fourth-round matchup against six-time champion Serena Williams.

Asked at a post-match news conference about the IAAF ban on Russia’s track and field team for widespread doping in the country, Kuznetsova says: “This is, for me, politics.”

She adds: “Suddenly everything has to go against Russia. Somebody in Russia, they’re all bad, and all the world is good.”

The IAAF last month upheld the ban that was first imposed in November on Russian athletes following a report by a World Anti-Doping Agency panel that alleged state-sponsored doping.

Russia is appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, contending the ban punishes athletes who haven’t done anything wrong.

Kuznetsova says “I hope they resolve it and the clean athletes who deserve to go to Olympics, they will go.”

Kuznetsova is one of four women entered for Russia’s team for the tennis tournament at the Rio Games.

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5:10 p.m.

Tomas Berdych, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2010, beat 19-year-old Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the third round Sunday.

The 10th-seeded Berdych moved into the fourth round for the eighth time in 13 trips to the All England Club.

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4 p.m.

John Isner came out on the wrong end of this marathon of a Wimbledon match, losing 19-17 in the fifth set to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the third round Sunday.

Tsonga, a Frenchman seeded No. 12, came back after dropping the first two sets, then had to save a match point while serving and trailing 16-15 in the fifth. Tsonga got the only break of the last set — which alone lasted more than 2 hours — to go ahead 18-17.

The final score: 6-7 (3), 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 19-17 for Tsonga in nearly 4½ hours.

They played the first three sets at No. 2 Court on Saturday before play was suspended because of darkness.

At the All England Club in 2010, Isner beat France’s Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the final set of the longest match in tennis history, which lasted more than 11 hours over three days in the first round.

Tsonga faces countryman No. 7 Richard Gasquet in next.

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3:45 p.m.

Nick Kyrgios is into the fourth round at Wimbledon for the third year in a row.

And this time, he’ll face 2013 champion Andy Murray.

Kyrgios, an Australian seeded 15th at the All England Club, advanced by beating No. 22 Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday in a match that was suspended by darkness a night earlier.

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3:05 p.m.

John Isner is at it again at Wimbledon, playing a lengthy fifth set.

Still a long way to go to come close to what he’s done in the past, though.

The 18th-seeded American — who won the longest match in tennis history 70-68 in the fifth at the All England Club in 2010 — is at 12-all in the final set of his third-round match against No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France on Sunday.

They played the first three sets at No. 2 Court on Saturday before play was suspended because of darkness.

There are no artificial lights on the courts at the All England Club except at Centre Court.

Tsonga entered this match with a 14-7 career mark in five-setters, while Isner was only 6-14. But one of the 6-foot-10 Isner’s victories came in the first round at Wimbledon six years ago, when he beat Nicolas Mahut in a match that took more than 11 hours over three days to complete.

The Tsonga-Isner winner will next face No. 7 Richard Gasquet, a two-time semifinalist at Wimbledon, who finished off a 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-3 victory over Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Sunday.

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2:20 p.m.

Two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova put aside a warning for getting coached and erased a big deficit in the third set to edge 18th-seeded Sloane Stephens 6-7 (1), 6-2, 8-6 in the third round at Wimbledon.

Back in the fourth round at the All England Club for the first time since 2008, the 13th-seeded Kuznetsova will meet No. 1 Serena Williams for a quarterfinal berth.

Kuznetsova, who won the 2004 U.S. Open and 2009 French Open, needed nearly 2½ hours to get past Stephens.

Early in the third set, Kuznetsova argued with chair umpire Marijana Veljovic about whether she was receiving help from her coach, which is not allowed at Grand Slam matches.

Then, Stephens served for the match at 5-3 but Kuznetsova broke, part of a stretch in which she took five of the last six games.

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2:05 p.m.

Defending champion Serena Williams did not need to work too hard to earn her 300th career Grand Slam match win and move into the fourth round at Wimbledon, overwhelming 43rd-ranked Annika Beck of Germany 6-3, 6-0.

It took all of 51 minutes at Centre Court on Sunday.

Williams, who has won six of her 21 Grand Slam titles at the All England Club, compiled a 25-2 edge in winners.

After falling behind 2-1 at the outset against Beck, Williams won 11 of the last 12 games and 24 of the second set’s 28 points.

The No. 1-ranked Williams improved to 300-42 at major tournaments. That breaks a tie at 299 wins with Chris Evert and now ranks second in the Open era to Martina Navratilova, who went 306-49.

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1:05 p.m.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has reached the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time.

The 23rd-seeded Russian beat No. 11 Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday.

Bacsinszky made it to the quarterfinals last year, but failed to break serve once on Sunday.

She’ll next face Coco Vandeweghe, who beat No. 7 Roberta Vinci in straight sets.

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12:55 p.m.

Coco Vandeweghe is making a strong run at Wimbledon for the second year in a row.

The 27th-seeded American beat No. 7 Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court on Sunday to reach the fourth round.

Vandeweghe advanced to the quarterfinals here last year before losing to Maria Sharapova in three sets. This is the first time she’s been seeded at a Grand Slam.

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11:50 a.m.

Play is underway on Day 7 at Wimbledon, only the fourth time in the tournament’s 139-year history that matches are being played on the middle Sunday.

Sixth-seeded Roberta Vinci opened play on Centre Court against Coco Vandeweghe of the United States in a third-round match. No. 13 Svetlana Kuznetsova faced No. 18 Sloane Stephens on Court No. 1.

Play began under gray skies, but the forecast called for mainly dry conditions and warmer temperatures reaching 22C (72F).

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10:30 a.m.

For only the fourth time in the tournament’s 139-year history, the middle Sunday at Wimbledon is not a day for rest.

With rain delays during the first week forcing organizers to schedule Sunday matches for the first time since 2004, all 22,000 tickets were snapped up in 27 minutes when they went on sale online on Saturday.

Fans will get to see top-seeded and six-time women’s champion Serena Williams, who plays in the day’s second match on Centre Court against Germany’s Annika Beck. The winner will move into the fourth round.

The tournament is still reverberating from the stunning exit of Novak Djokovic, whose bid for a fifth consecutive major title and the third leg of a calendar-year Grand Slam was stopped by American Sam Querrey in the third round.