Roger Federer moved to within two games of a third straight Wimbledon title here on Wednesday when he defused the big guns of Chilean Fernando Gonzalez to win their quarter-final tie 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (7/2).
The top seeded Swiss player was left flat-footed at times by the power of the Gonzalez forehand, but in all other aspects of the game he was on top and the result looked in little doubt after Federer won a tight first set.
It was his 34th win in a row on grass and next up in the semi-finals will be old rival Leyton Hewitt of Australia who defeated Felciano Lopez of Spain in straight sets.
"I played a great match today. He was dangerous. It's my third semi-final in a row and Wimbledon has been good to me so far," he said.
"The whole match I was tense and he was a dangerous opponent. I am happy with the way I played."
The 24-year-old Gonzalez came into his third appearance in a Grand Slam quarter-final as the only player in the tournament not to have dropped a set in the four previous rounds.
But he was quickly in trouble against Federer, dropping his serve in the fourth game after badly mistiming a straightforward forehand.
Federer was comfortably holding on to his serve and he underlined the break to smoothly move 4-1 up.
But two games later three identical forehand crosscourt howitzers from Gonzalez left Federer gasping and the Chilean levelled at 4-4.
The set looked like heading for a tie-break until Federer produced two great defensive efforts as Gonzalez let fly to break the Chilean for a second time and take the set in 33 minutes.
That established Federer's grip on the game and there is no finer front-runner in the sport.
He raced into a 3-0 second set lead with another break of serve and looked comfortable holding on to that advantage forcing the explosive Gonzalez to take all the initiatives.
But brute force apart, the Chilean had little idea of how to unsettle the Federer calm and the second set slipped away 6-2 to the defending champion with the unforced errors mounting from Gonzalez.
It was more of the same in the third set although Gonzalez had a rare break point at 4-4 which he squandered going for a big inside-out forehand winner off a second serve.
He did manage to force a second tie-break, but Federer majestically pulled away from 1-2 to rattle off six points in a row finishing it off with an ace down the middle.
HEWITT SETS UP FEDERER SHOWDOWN: Australian third seed Lleyton Hewitt kept the lid on his volcanic temper to beat Spain's Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) and set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with defending champion Roger Federer.
The 2002 champion brushed aside the resistance of the stylish Lopez, the first Spaniard in 33 years to reach the last eight.
Hewitt, who was accused of intimidating the officials by Taylor Dent in their explosive fourth round clash, kept his opinions to himself to cruise through his quarter-final and book a date against Federer against whom he has lost his last seven matches.
One of those defeats came in the quarter-finals here last year as Federer went on to clinch his second successive title.
Lopez, the conqueror of Australian Open champion Marat Safin in the third round, was not overawed by the feisty Hewitt in the early stages and broke to lead 3-2 courtesy of a fortunate net cord.
But the 23-year-old Spanish left-hander surrendered the advantage in the eighth game with a sloppy double fault.
Hewitt cranked up the pressure with a love game to go 6-5 while Lopez' service fell apart in the 12th game where a simple, netted volley gave the Australian three set points.
Hewitt clinched the opener 7-5 after 39 minutes when he fired a return to the feet of the advancing Spaniard whose attempted scooped volley died into the net.
Serve dominated the second set until Lopez again tightened at the crucial moment.
This time it came in the 10th game when he dumped a weak backhand into the net handing Hewitt the set 6-4 after 74 minutes.
The two-set lead sparked Hewitt's first 'come-on' battle cry of the afternoon as he sensed victory and a place in his second career Wimbledon semi-final.
Neither player managed to reach break point in the third set but Hewitt dominated the tiebreak with a gruelling rally giving him a 4-1 lead.
Lopez then netted yet another poor forehand to give his opponent three match points and Hewitt took the match after 1hr 59min when the Spaniard repeated the error.
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