Federer issues a storm warning to rivals

Federer had clearly decided he wanted to be away from the All England Club and ensconced in his rented Wimbledon residence in time for late afternoon tea - and no rain break was going to alter that.

Roger Federer easily beat Marc Gicquel in the third round

Cue a no-nonsense battering that he cunningly and kindly disguised as two half-competitive sets. What did for the ruse - and ultimately for Gicquel's pride - was that storm clouds then began to roll in.

The darker it got overhead, the more urgent became Federer's haste to finish the match, collect his ticket into Monday's fourth round and leave whiling away hours in the locker room to others.

But Mario Ancic last night remained as a cloud on Federer's horizon when he continued the trend of seeds being upset by beating No 5 David Ferrer.

The 24-year-old Croatian defeated the gritty Spaniard 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 in a match finished in near darkness at 9.15pm. He is on course to play Federer in the quarter-finals, and is the last man to have beaten the Swiss on grass, here in 2002.

Yet there was no chance of Federer losing yesterday as he hastily finished off his opponent. Every Gicquel shot was chased down and returned with interest, forehands clubbed so tightly to the baseline they did not come back.

The rumble of thunder moved closer, so Federer raced into the net to punch away a searing volley. The fluorescent lights on the electronic scoreboard glowed more brightly, so Federer landed his serves on the lines instead of an inch inside.

It is at such rare moments that the true majesty of Federer's talent can be glimpsed. One backhand was driven ferociously straight at Gicquel. The Frenchman should be thankful that he possesses uncanny reflexes at the net and was able to protect his midriff.

Sumptuous volleys, audacious drop-shots, groundstrokes flicked on the bounce that sent Gicquel scurrying into oblivion. And not even the hint of an apology from the great man.

Federer fended off accusations of bullying, insisting that accelerating towards victory to spite the weather was achievable in principle rather than practice.

He said: 'I wish I could turn on a button and say: "OK, rain's coming. Let's just quickly win and then it's all done". It's not the way it works. I tried to put the pressure on in the third set but this is Wimbledon. It's serious stuff, not some junior tournament where you're 10 times bigger than the other guy.'

The only display of decency Federer showed was to allow world No 53 Gicquel to break serve in the opening game. The 31-year-old from Brittany should have reached for his camera and taken a snapshot of the scoreboard for posterity.

His suffering was brief, if intense. In one hour, 21 minutes it was all over and Federer had his customary middle weekend off to relax and prepare for the second week with Lleyton Hewitt up next.

Federer said: 'Lleyton knows what it takes to win Slams. He definitely believes very strongly in his chances, which is normal.'

With that, it was off to collect his tennis bags, meet up with fiancee Mirka and go home for tea. A weekend of leisure interspersed with a couple of practice sessions awaits.

As for Hewitt, a quick check of the weather forecast ought to tell him what to expect on Monday.