Federer destroys super Mario

Roger Federer moved to within two victories of a record sixth successive Wimbledon title on Wednesday when he crushed Croatia's Mario Ancic 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 in a brutally one-sided quarterfinal.

Top seed Federer, who will face either Spain's Feliciano Lopez or former world number one Marat Safin for a place in the final, moved into an impressive 17th consecutive Grand Slam semi-final, a run stretching back over four years.

Ancic, a former top 10 player who's still feeling his way back after battling glandular fever and injury, was the last man to beat Federer on grass here in 2002. He's paid a heavy price, losing all six subsequent meetings.

Federer, now with 64 wins in a row on grass, stormed through the first set in just 20 minutes breaking the 24-year-old Croatian in the second and sixth games and giving up just a single point in four service games.

At 6-1 and 1-1 in the second set, rain forced the players off Centre Court for over two hours but on the resumption, Ancic briefly rediscovered his composure. However, a poor volley followed by a second double fault of the match on break point in the 11th game gave Federer a 6-5 lead which the champion converted into a two-set lead with a ninth ace after only 56 minutes on court.

A marathon opening game of the third set, which lasted 16 minutes, went in Ancic's favour before Federer again broke, this time in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead. Ancic, a semi-finalist in 2004 and who spent almost four hours coming back from a two-set deficit to beat Fernando Verdasco in the last round, was understandably wilting.

Federer swept to victory courtesy of his 15th ace after only one hour 42 minutes of action. Meanwhile, Lopez and Safin were one set all.