Roger Federer comes face-to-face with a Wimbledon ghost on Wednesday when he takes on Mario Ancic, the last man to beat him on grass four years ago, for a semi-final place.
The world number one suffered a humiliating defeat to the Croatian in the first round here in 2002 when Ancic was an 18-year-old qualifier. But since then, Federer has won 45 in a row on his favourite surface, a sequence which has helped harvest three successive Wimbledon titles.
He has also won the last three meetings with Ancic, the most recent of which came in the French Open quarter-finals last month. "We've had some tough matches in the past," said the Swiss superstar who cruised into the last eight with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win against the Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych on Monday.
"We just played at the French Open but that's very different to what we are going to see here. The biggest memory is that he's the last guy to beat me on grass.
"Ancic has got the grass court expertise. It will be a tough match." The Croatian, the seventh seed, needed five sets to see off Serbia's Novak Djokovic to book his last eight place and he believes that the events of 2002 will have little bearing on Wednesday's encounter.
"It was four years ago, so I think we've both changed a lot," said Ancic, bidding to follow in the footsteps of his hero and compatriot Goran Ivanisevic who was Wimbledon champion in 2001.
"Roger has won three Wimbledons. This is a new match. "I was happy that I played in Paris against him, so it's more that I'm looking to that match and what positives I can take from it, than what happened four year ago."
Ancic illustrated his grass court credentials with the title at S-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands on the eve of Wimbledon and he certainly has the ability to take the game to Federer.
Against Djokovic, he fired down 31 aces. The Serb responded by putting Ancic in the same bracket as Federer as a grass court force. "I'm looking forward to the match and happy to be there again," said Ancic. "That shows that I beat a lot of good players to come here and played very solidly and that I came through a lot of tough situations to be here," he said.
"You know you are going to have some unbelievable shots against Roger. In Paris, I had 2-0, 40-0, a chance to go a double break and he made five winners. "So you just have to try to get in more situations like that and hope he can miss, but also play your game."
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