Jun 29, 2009, 14:28 GMT
London - Roger Federer fired past Robin Soderling for the second time in three weeks, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) Monday to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon on the back of an 11-0 record in the series as the pair re-ran the recent French Open final.
The Swiss second see is advancing methodically towards the business end of the event as he aims to lift a sixth title in seven years and set a new all-time mark with 15 Grand Slam singles titles should he win the Sunday final again.
Federer spent just under two hours in advancing, helped by Soderling's double-fault in the third-set tiebreaker to set up match points. The Swiss secured his 48th Wimbledon win on the first as Soderling returned wide.
The winner produced 23 aces and didn't faces a break point until last in the final set.
'Today was a serving contest, there were not a lot of rallies,' said the winner. 'My form was great in first week. Today was a dangerous match.
'Thank God he served that double-fault or we could have gone into a fourth set.
'I'm happy to be through four Wimbledon matches and into the quarters.'
Women's five-time champion Venus Williams went through as 13th seed Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open winner, had to retire in pain with a thigh injury to hand over a 6-1, 0-1 victory to the American.
'I just only pay attention to what's going on on my side of the net,' said Williams. 'But today I felt really sad for her actually. She was really upset.
'This is Wimbledon. It's the last place you want to have an injury that you can't overcome. So I'm wishing her a lot of luck in her recovery.'
Ivanovic said she felt pain when she landed on a serve. 'It's most disappointing thing to lose like this. I felt I didn't get a chance.' Williams sister Serena joined with a quick win over Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1.
Russian number four Elena Dementieva was untroubled by compatriot Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-3 while eighth seed Victoria Azarenka took out Russian tenth seed Nadia Petrova 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-3.
Pole Agnieszka Radwanska ended the fairytale of American qualifier Melanie Oudin 6-4, 7-5.
German Tommy Haas, the oldest man remaining in the field at age 31, reached the quarter-final for the first time in his career with a defeat of Russian Igor Andreev 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, 6-4.
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