Straight-sets win keeps Federer on course for record title haul

Roger Federer continued his serene Wimbledon progress with a straight-sets win over Grigor Dimitrov.

The Swiss star, yet to drop a set, stayed on course for a record eighth All England Club title with a straightforward 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory in one hour and 37 minutes.

Dimitrov, the 13th seed from Bulgaria, was supposed to provide a tough test for the third seed on Centre Court. He was a semi-finalist at Queen’s and has looked in good touch at SW19, but had never beaten Federer in five previous attempts and Federer scarcely had to break sweat as he cruised into the quarter-finals.

Federer will face Milos Raonic, the Canadian sixth seed who beat him in last year’s semi-final, in the last eight. Raonic needed five sets and three hours 23 minutes to see off German 10th seed Alexander Zverev out on Court 2.

Marin Cilic reached his fourth consecutive Wimbledon quarter-final with a straight-sets win over Roberto Bautista Agut. The Croatian seventh seed overpowered his Spanish opponent in a onesided contest, running out a 6-2 6-2 6-2 winner on Court 12.

Bautista Agut, seeded 18, had no answer to the fearsome groundstrokes of Cilic, one of the few men outside the top four to win a grand slam in recent years with his 2014 US Open victory. The 28-year-old will face Luxembourg’s 16th seed Gilles Muller, conquerer of Rafael Nadal, for a place in the semi-finals.

Sam Querrey came through the battle of the big serves in five sets on Court 18. The American lost the first set 7-5 to South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, but levelled on a tie-break before taking the third with a rare break of serve.

A marathon tie-break in the fourth went Anderson’s way, but he was broken again in the decider as Querrey won 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 6-7 (11-13) 6-3.

Tomas Berdych, the 2010 runner-up, came through a five-setter against eighth seed Dominicthiemofaustria.the Czech, seeded 11th, was twice pegged back to 2-2 but took the final set 6-3. He will meet the winner of the match between Novak Djokovic and Adrian Mannarino.