Roger Federer continued his regal progress at Wimbledon today with the five - times champion dismantling Lleyton Hewitt to claim an impressive 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory.

But next up for the imperious Swiss is the spectre of the last man to beat him at Wimbledon, Mario Ancic, who came back from two sets down to claim an incredible victory over Fernando Verdasco.

The Croatian saw off the Spaniard 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 13-11 in a battle that lasted three hours and 48 minutes on Court No11.

It has been six years, and 63 matches, since Federer last lost on grass and the fact it was at the hands of Ancic adds further spice to upcoming quarter-final.

The Croatian was an unseeded qualifier in 2002, and the victory was seen to herald the arrival of a major new force in the mens' game.

But a series of injuries and illnesses, including a six-month lay-off because of glandular fever last year, have hampered Ancic's progress and the world No43 is only now returning to the kind of form that had marked him out as an exciting player for the future.

Wether he can seriously challenge Federer remains to be seen, and there was nothing Hewitt could find in his armoury today to seriously worry the world No1 who was able to move smoothly up the gears in times of need and appeared hardly break a sweat.

This was a battle of the Wimbledon champions, with these two the only players left in the draw whose names appear on the men's singles honours board in the club house.

Hewitt, troubled by a hip injury that has made this year such a painful experience, went into the Centre Court clash having lost his last 11 matches against one of the game's greats.

It was always going to take a remarkable display from the Australian, coupled with a dramatic slump by Federer, to produce an upset.

Not even the presence in Hewitt's support team of Tony Roche, who used to coach Federer, would give him the key to halting the reigning champion's domination on grass.

Federer said: "I served really well today and I did realise that Lleyton was struggling with his hip but he was still a dangerous opponent. The key was winning that first-set tie break and I played consistently well and saved some break points. I am very happy with the way I am playing."

Hewitt has slipped down to No27 in the rankings and won his only Wimbledon title in 2002 - the year after he was crowned the US Open champion.

His last victory over Federer came in the Davis Cup five years ago when he was still a real contender for the biggest prizes in the game and Federer had won the first of what has become five successive Wimbledon crowns.

History is calling Federer with a sixth win at SW19 allowing him to equal William Renshaw's record established in 1881 but the British player used to get a bye into the final each year. This was Federer's 38th consecutive win in SW19.

The first set was a real contest even if it didn't give the pockets of Aussie fans something to really cheer about as Hewitt failed to produce more than one trademark "c'mon" shout after a winner.

Both players were happy to look after their respective serves and neither created a break point which meant the set moved, inevitably, into a tie break which Federer won 9-7 .

The second set was a far more straight forward affair, with Federer using his serve well to win 6-2 after 76 minutes.

Hewitt had two break points on the Federer serve at the start of the third but a difficult volley just drifted wide and the reigning champion produced two aces to put the set back on serve and the Swiss in control again.

To make matters worse for Hewitt, he lost his serve in the next game to trail 2-1 and he appeared to have increasing problems with the hip injury as the contest wore on.

There was still some fight from the Australian as the cries from his fans became more desperate but he lost the third set 6-4 and the match in 1hr 49mins.