Federer win ensures long weekend

Roger Federer looked forward to a weekend off after booking his place in the second week of Wimbledon with a straight-sets win over France's Marc Gicquel.

The defending champion overcame a slow start after the first rain delay of the fortnight to cruise to a 6-3 6-3 6-1 victory in just 81 minutes on Centre Court.

"The conditions were difficult again against a tricky opponent who played very aggressively," Federer said.

He added: "The wind was swirling and I got down a break early and had to rally back but I think I played really well. Not losing a set (so far) is always nice and I get a couple of days off now and hopefully I will play as well again next week."

Federer will now face Lleyton Hewitt after the Australian disposing of Italian Simone Bolelli on Friday.

Hewitt flew out of the blocks following the rain delay to claim the opening two sets at a canter, and though the 22-year-old Bolelli showed more aggression in the third set, Hewitt came through in the tie-break to win 6-1 6-3 7-6 (7/2).

Elsewhere, David Ferrer became the latest high-profile casualty at Wimbledon losing a marathon third-round tussle to Mario Ancic.

And Marat Safin progressed to the last 16 with a 7-6 (7/5) 3-6 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 victory over 29th seed Andreas Seppi of Italy.

The Russian, who bombed out Novak Djokovic in straight sets on Wednesday, hit some fabulous returns to go with some fearsome 130mph-plus serves.