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London: Rafael Nadal stepped up his bid to dethrone Roger Federer at Wimbledon, the second seed clicking into overdrive on Saturday to dismiss German Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 6-2 6-3 and reach the fourth round.
A ruthless Venus Williams and a hobbling Jelena Jankovic restored some order to the women's draw to keep their grand slam hopes alive heading into the second week.
Nadal, runner-up to five-times champion Federer for the last two years at the All-England club, had been kept waiting until nearly 1800 GMT to begin his match on Centre Court against the number 27 seed.
Nadal secured a last 16 tie with Russian Mikhail Youzhny.
Evening gloom
Mario Ancic admits it was Wimbledon Centre Court which prevented him from slumping into despair when illness and injury sent his career into a tailspin in 2007.
The 24-year-old Croatian, the last man to beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon six long years ago, marked his return to the All England Club centre stage with a four-set victory over fifth seed David Ferrer to reach the fourth round.
Fittingly for a man who suffered some dark moments during spells of debilitating glandular fever and a serious shoulder injury, Ancic clinched victory over the Spaniard in the cold, late evening gloom.
"I missed Wimbledon last year and I was going through a rough time. Many times I tried to come back, and always in my mind was to play Centre Court at Wimbledon," said Ancic.
"That was what was always motivating me, to play big matches like this in big stadiums."
Results
Men's singles third round (prefix number denotes seeding) Marin Cilic (Croatia) beat 14-Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 7-6(6); 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat 27-Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) 7-6(3) 6-2 6-3; 12-Andy Murray (Britain) beat Tommy Haas (Germany) 6-4 6-7(4) 6-3 6-2; Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) beat 25-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 7-6(1) 7-6(3) 6-3; 8-Richard Gasquet (France) beat 28-Gilles Simon (France) 6-3 6-3 6-7(3) 6-3; Arnaud Clement (France) beat Jurgen Melzer (Austria) 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4; Rainer Schuettler (Germany) beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 6-2 6-3 6-4.
Women's singles third round: 24-Shahar Peer (Israel) beat 9-Dinara Safina (Russia) 7-5 6-7(4) 8-6.
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