Roger Federer eased into the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-4 7-6 victory over Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero.
It was the 33rd consecutive grass-court triumph for Federer and on this form it appears inevitable that the world number one is nearing a hat-trick of men's singles titles.
The champion had lost just one set this tournament and apart from the third set tie-breaker the Spaniard rarely looked like troubling him, even though he tried desperately throughout to upset the rhythm of his opponent with some heavy baseline hitting.
Federer did have to save one break point in the ninth game of the first set but he produced a powerful smash before serving out the set.
It was always going to be a struggle for Ferrero from that point, especially for a former French Open champion who had lost his last three matches against Federer and was emerging from 18 months of injury and health problems which included a debilitating bout of chicken pox.
Ferrero, however, looked to be growing in confidence in the second set as he used the pace of Federer's serve to manufacture some spectacular returns.
But as well as he was playing the champion continued to conjure up something better.
He broke the Ferrero serve this time in the fifth game with the aid of a blistering forehand which landed on the line and again it proved crucial, Federer serving out comfortably to take the set.
With Federer producing huge backhands and mixing up his baseline play with penetrating serve-and-volley many might have collapsed at that point but Ferrero suddenly began to play some of the best tennis of the match, prolonging the rallies and matching Federer for hitting power from the baseline.
Errors eventually began to seep from the Federer racket and while Ferrero saved four break points on his serve in the third game he also had a break point on the Federer delivery in the eighth.
He could not take it and Federer eventually forced the break in the 11th game with a spectacular backhand.
It looked all over but the champion promptly experienced an inexplicable blip, netting an easy volley and his first double fault of the match to allow Ferrero to take the set to a tie-break.
With the light fading there was a possibility the match would not have finished tonight if Ferrero could have taken the match into a fourth set.
That was not part of the champion's plan and while unforced errors continued to seep from his racket, especially hitting long over the baseline, Federer eventually reimposed his superiority to take a hard-fought breaker 8-6 and the match.
Not vintage Federer, but good enough.
