Federer crushes Russia's hope in straight sets

Marat Safin and Elena Vesnina lost to the men’s and women’s top seeds, while Dmitry Tursunov and Anna Chakvetadze were also sent crashing out in the third round.

Safin was up against Roger Federer and to his credit became the first player to break Federer’s serve in this year’s tournament, but to no avail, eventually losing 6-1 6-4 7-6.

Federer has now notched up 51 wins in a row on grass.

He next plays Gernany's Tommy Haas, who despite losing the first set 6-1 to Russia's Dmitry Tursunov, went on to claim victory in four sets.

Elsewhere, Andy Roddick beat Spain’s Fernando Verdasco to become the sole surviving American in the men’s draw. His compatriot and ninth seed James Blake lost to Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Other shocks saw fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez and fifteenth seed Ivan Ljubicic both lose.

In the women’s singles, Elena Vesnina faced world number one Justin Henin, who's chasing her first Wimbledon title. And it didn’t take her long to get past the Russian 6-1 6-3 in the end. Henin has only dropped 11 games in her first three matches.

Elsewhere, eighth seed Anna Chakvetadze went out to Michaella Krajicek. Although, the Dutch player needed three sets to get past the Russian.

Ninth seed Martina Hingis also out to America’s Laura Granville.

Serena Williams, though, is through.