Federer broke Ancic four times, and even when he didn’t, made him work. The third set’s opening game, for example, took 16 minutes, with 10 deuces and four break points, before Ancic finally held. It lasted 26 points, and Federer won 12 — or, put another way, two more than Ancic took off Federer’s serve all match.

“There’s not one point you get for free,” said Ancic, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2005.

The All England Club was the only Grand Slam site where Safin hadn’t reached the final four. He came to Wimbledon with a 10-13 record this season, a ranking of 75th and a well-documented distaste for the place, from the grass to the weather to the high price of strawberries and cream.

But he’s played fantastically, beating No. 3 Novak Djokovic and three other seeded players. Federer knows how talented the 6-foot-4 Russian is.

“I never looked at Marat like No. 80 or 90 in the world. I mean, that’s ridiculous. He knows that himself,” Federer said. “He’s finally showing again what he can do. It’s just quite surprising he does it here at Wimbledon.”

One of Federer’s two losses in 10 matches against Safin came in the 2005 Australian Open semifinals, 9-7 in the fifth set.

“Marat knows how to beat me,” Federer noted. “That was a hard one. I’m going to try to get him back for that one.”

As Ancic knows all too well, Federer can follow through on such thoughts.

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