Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt, who have monopolized the Wimbledon men's singles title in the last three years, will clash in a potentially epic semifinal showdown today.
The match-up will be the latest in a long-running series of bruising encounters stretching back to 1999 and featuring 16 clashes, with double defending champion Federer ahead 9-7.
Federer, the winner here in 2003 and last year, reached the semifinals by racking up a 34th successive grasscourt win courtesy of a 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) win against Chile's Fernando Gonzalez.
Hewitt, the 2002 champion, booked his place in his second career Wimbledon semifinal seeing off Spain's Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).
The other semifinal will feature US second-seed Andy Roddick, the runner-up last year, against 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson.
Roddick beat French ninth seed Sebastien Grosjean 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 while Johansson, the 12th seeded Swede, defeated 2002 runner-up David Nalbandian of Argentina 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-2.
"I played a great match today," said Federer, who hasn't lost to Hewitt since a 2003 Davis Cup tie where the Australian came back from a two-set deficit.
"It's my third semifinal in a row and Wimbledon has been good to me so far," he said.
Federer beat Hewitt in the quarterfinals last year but the third-seeded Australian is relishing renewing his rivalry with the Swiss world No. 1.
"It's great to reach my second semifinal here. The last time I went on to win the tournament so hopefully that's a good omen," Hewitt said.
The 24-year-old Gonzalez, the first Chilean to reach the last eight here since Ricardo Acuna in 1985, came into his third appearance in a Grand Slam quarterfinal as the only player in the tournament not to have dropped a set in the four previous rounds.
But he struggled throughout to impose himself on Federer, against whom he had never won.
Hewitt kept the lid on his volcanic temper to beat Lopez, the first Spaniard to make the last eight since 1972.
Meanwhile, Roddick held his nerve and produced a commanding fifth set to see off the brave challenge of Grosjean.
After an edgy start, the 22-year-old Roddick settled down and produced some of his best tennis of the tournament to move within one match of having another crack at the Swiss star's crown.
"I came into Wimbledon having lost a string of five-setters so to pull it out like that means a lot," he said.
"He was coming up with the goods and I let it slip in the fourth, but I was able to hold on to my nerve in the fifth set," he said.
Johansson, the oldest man in the last four at 30, shrugged off his injury-hit past to become the first Swedish man for 12 years to reach the semifinals when he comfortably saw off Nalbandian, the 2002 runner-up.
Johansson missed the entire 2003 campaign following knee surgery but has clawed his way back in style.
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