Federer outplays Ancic to reach semis

Men's champion Roger Federer floored Mario Ancic 6-4 6-4 6-4 to progress serenely through to the Wimbledon semi-finals yesterday.

In the last four the Swiss, who is attempting to become only the third man in the professional era to win four consecutive Wimbledon singles titles, will face Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman who beat Czech Radek Stepanek 7-6 4-6 6-7 7-6 6-4.

Ancic's shock win over Federer at Wimbledon in 2002 was the last time the Swiss lost a match on grass but the Croatian seventh seed failed to cause the top seed any real problems in humid conditions yesterday.

"It was difficult with the rain delays and knowing that he was the last guy to beat me here. It was a hard loss for me," said Federer.

"I thought I played a terrific match and I really enjoyed it out there. I was prepared for a very difficult match so I'm even more surprised I came through so convincingly.

"I definitely got on a roll. Usually rain delays slow you down but they really got me going."

The match was interrupted three times in all - twice by rain and once by two protesters who were quickly hustled off court - but Federer's concentration was unbroken throughout.

Their only previous meeting on grass was that match in the first round in 2002, when Ancic won in three sets. Federer has won all three of their meetings since, including their French Open quarter-final last month.

The match against Bjorkman will be Federer's ninth consecutive grand slam semi-final, only one short of Ivan Lendl's record.

Men's QF: Baghdatis bt Hewitt 6-1 5-7 7-6 6-2.

Longest match finally ends

Canada's Daniel Nestor and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas won the longest match in Wimbledon history yesterday when they took six hours nine minutes to win a men's doubles quarter-final.

The third seeds beat Sweden's Simon Aspelin and Todd Perry of Australia 5-7 6-3 6-7 6-3 23-21 in a match that had started on Tuesday. The final set lasted 193 minutes.

The longest match of all had been a second round men's singles in 1989 between qualifier Greg Holmes and fellow American Todd Witsken which lasted five hours 28 minutes, spread over three days, before Holmes won 14-12 in the fifth set.