June 28, 2008

MARIO Ancic, the last man to beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon, has upset No.5 seed David Ferrer in the third round at Wimbledon.

Ancic, a qualifier at Wimbledon in 2002 when he beat Federer in the first round, ended Spaniard Ferrer's run 6-4 6-4 6-7 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) in 3 hours and 11 minutes.

Ancic reached the semi-finals in 2004 and was ousted in the quarter-finals by Federer in 2006, his previous trip to the All England Club.

Ferrer followed No.3 Novak Djokovic and No.4 Nikolay Davydenko as casualties of the first five days, leaving just four of the men's top 10 seeds in the tournament before the end of the first week.

Ancic goes on to face another Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco, in the fourth round.

Also progressing was Marat Safin, the former world No.1, who followed up his win over Djokovic with a 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 victory over Italian Andreas Seppi, the No.29 seed.

The Russian, whose ranking has slumped to 75, faces Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka in the last 16.