Federer reaches fourth round at Wimbledon

Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Swiss superstar Roger Federer continued his quest for his fifth straight Wimbledon title as he posted a straight-set victory in the third round on Friday.
The top-seeded/world No. 1 Federer faced a former world No. 1 in Marat Safin of Russia and won 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). It is his 51st successive win on grass.
The 25-year-old Federer is trying to become only the second man in the Open Era to win this event five years in a row, joining the legendary Bjorn Borg, who captured it from 1976-80. Federer has won his last 31 matches at the All England Club, while the Swedish Borg won 41 straight here from 1976-81 before finally losing to John McEnroe in the 1981 final.
The 10-time Grand Slam champion Federer is also the reigning Australian and U.S. Open titlist and was this year's French Open runner-up to Nadal. The amazing Swiss has played in a record eight straight Grand Slam finals, going 6-2. He beat Nadal in last year's Wimbledon finale and hasn't lost at the AEC since Croatia's Mario Ancic beat him in the first round back in 2002.
Federer, who is now 35-4 lifetime here, will next face 13th-seeded German Tommy Haas, who bounced back from a first set loss to down 21st-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
There were three third round upsets on Friday as fifth-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, ninth-seeded American James Blake and 15th-seeded Croatian Ivan Ljubicic were all handed losses.
Gonzalez, the Australian Open runner-up, was handed a defeat in five sets by unseeded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 8-6.
Blake took the first set, but then lost the next three to 20th-seeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). Blake has never advanced beyond the third round at the All England Club.
Ljubicic won the first set of his match against Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, but the dropped the next three 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.
Twelfth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet marched on by leveling his countryman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
In unseeded play, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was a straight-set winner against Spain's Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.