England's heatwave heralded the start of week two at Wimbledon, but Roger Federer remaining the epitome of cool, and Venus and Serena Williams made further progress towards another final.
Federer nailed Sweden's Robin Soderling, the man he beat in this month's French Open final, in what he described as a "serving contest", winning 6-4 7-6 7-6.
And the Williams sisters had it even easier. Second seed Serena conceded only four games to Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 6-3 6-1 while Venus had to play onlhy eight games to get past tearful Serb Ana Ivanovic, who quit with a thigh injury after little more than half an hour.
And when rain arrived for the first time in the tournament, the womens number one Dinara Safina became the first winner of a competitive match under the new centre court roof, surviving a tight three setter against Amelie Mauresmo of France.
The home hope for the men's title Andy Murray is on court now against Switzerland's second best player Stanislas Wawrinka.
Lleyton Hewitt, Novak Djokavic, the German veteran Tommy Haas and Ivo Karlovic have all reached the mens quarter-finals.
