Federer Storms into the 3rd Round

Centre Court king Roger Federer put on a rocking Wimbledon show for pop music queen Gwen Stefani on Wednesday as the five-time champion moved into the third round.

Federer brushed aside Sweden's Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) to rack up his 61st successive win on grass and a clash with either France's Marc Gicquel or Serbian lucky loser Ilia Bozoljac for a place in the last 16.

The top seed took just two hours to wrap up victory to keep him confidently on the road towards a record sixth successive title.

That path was considerably eased earlier Wednesday when third seed Novak Djokovic, who had been scheduled to meet Federer in the semi-finals, was sensationally knocked out by Marat Safin.

Federer's performance won enthusiastic applause from the watching Stefani and rock-star husband Gavin Rossdale, the lead singer of British grunge-rockers Bush, watching from the players' box. Federer had joined the couple and their son for a trip to London Zoo this week.

"I'm very happy with the win," he said. "The conditions were difficult, the sun was low so it was hard to see the ball in the last few points. So I was pleased to get through without playing a fourth set."

Federer cruised through the first two sets against Soderling who he had beaten in all of their six previous matches.

He dropped serve for the first time on grass this year in the sixth game of the third set before saving a set point in the ninth game.

Soderling's chance was gone and the world number one confidently cruised through the tiebreaker.