Wimbledon:Roger Federer slipped off his white top and trousers and promptly played a pristine first set against Marat Safin in the third round at Wimbledon.
Aided by some wild groundstrokes from the unpredictable Russian, Federer broke serve in the fourth game and won 11 consecutive points to exert his authority.
Safin then threw in a double fault to hand Federer a second break in the sixth game and the number one seed served out comfortably to take the set 6-1 in just 19 minutes.
It was Federer's turn to be wild in the second game of the second set when he lost his serve for the first time this tournament, slugging forehands and backhands long.
Safin needed to capitalise on his good fortune but instead he lost his very next service game and Federer resumed control.
A bad bounce which saw Safin flailing at fresh air on the baseline gave the world number one another break of serve in the seventh game and the match appeared out of Safin's reach when Federer took the set 6-4 with a resounding ace to take control of the match at two sets to love.
Safin began to settle down and demonstrate why he has won the US Open and the Australian Open, the latter as recently as 2005.
At last he was playing with rhythm and some precision and the crowd were getting the match for which they had hoped.
The set went with serve until the inevitable tie-break when Safin's wild shots, especially one weak volley, again let him down at crucial moments and Federer ran out a 7-4 winner in the breaker and 6-1 6-4 7-6 in the match.
He now plays Germany's Tommy Haas in the fourth round.