ESPN Tennis

*Federer through in straight sets

*Henman Hill awaits Murray

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By Martyn Herman

LONDON, June 29 - Roger Federer remained the epitome of cool, and Venus and Serena Williams hurtled towards another final showdown as heatwave conditions heralded Wimbledon's second week.

Five-times champion 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 to ease ominously into the quarter-finals.

With the mercury shooting past 30 degrees and forecasters predicting even higher temperatures this week in south west London, the Williams sisters, who have faced each other three times in the final here, were able to conserve energy.

Second seed Serena, beaten last year by her older sister, thrashed Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 6-3 6-1 while Venus was required to play just eight games to get past tearful Serb Ana Ivanovic, who quit with a thigh injury after little more than half an hour on Court One.

"I think she was in a lot of pain," the 29-year-old Venus, gunning for a hat-trick of singles titles here and her sixth in total, told reporters. "I'm one of those players who only pays attention to what's going on on my side of the net. But today I felt really sad for her actually."

Impressive fourth seed Elena Dementieva, a semi-finalist last year, polished off fellow Russian Elena Vesnina quickly to become the first player through to the last eight.

Whatever the form of their rivals, world number one Dinara Safina was in action later, there is a sense of inevitability about another Williams family showdown on Saturday.

They simply look unstoppable on the slick Wimbledon lawns.

"I'm a control freak," added Venus who now has Agnieszka Radwanska in her sights after the Pole ended the run of 17-year-old American Melanie Oudin 6-4 7-5. "I love controlling. That's how I was taught to play."

Expectant fans sat sizzling on Henman Hill where the giant video screen will show British hope Andy Murray's fourth-round clash with Stanislas Wawrinka, the second best player in Switzerland. They marvelled at another Federer masterclass.

SERIOUS CONTENDERS

The 22-year-old Murray, bidding to become Britain's first men's singles champion here since Fred Perry in 1936, is favourite to meet Federer in Sunday's final with former champion Boris Becker jumping on the bandwagon.

"The biggest question mark this week is whether Murray can maintain his poise," former men's champion Boris Becker, now a BBC pundit, said on Monday. "If he can, then he is going all the way to the final."

Murray's growing army of fans will be a little twitchy, however, at Federer's start to the second week, which like the third round of golf's majors, dubbed moving day, tends to be when the serious contenders really start to flex their muscles.

Soderling, the man who ended Rafael Nadal's 31-match winning streak at Roland Garros, is a dangerous beast on grass with a huge serve and whiplash forehand but as in Paris he found the 14-times grand slam champion just too good at the vital moments.

The Swede only lost his serve once in the entire match but faltered in both tiebreaks.

"I think today was just a serving contest, not too many rallies," Federer, who can eclipse Pete Sampras on Sunday by collecting a 15th slam, said. "Today was hard to get through. Robin served great, thank goodness he served a double fault at the end of the tie-break because it could have been four sets."

Germany's Tommy Haas, the oldest player in the last 16, reached the last eight for the first time, outwitting Russia's Igor Andreev 7-6 6-4 6-4.

Nine former grand slam champions were in fourth round action. Lleyton Hewitt's vocal fan club, the Fanatics, will be back on Court Two to watch the 2002 champion take on Radek Stepanek having serenaded the Australian battler into the last 16 for a sixth consecutive year on Saturday.

Andy Roddick, a U.S. Open winners and twice runner-up here to Federer, was up against dangerous Czech Tomas Berdych while fourth seed Novak Djokovic, untroubled so far, faced Israel's Dudi Sela.

The All England Club's first-aiders were expecting another busy afternoon on Monday dealing with hot and bothered fans while several tournament personnel were told to stay away after reporting flu-like symptoms.

For their sake they will be hoping Murray's match against Wawrinka does not turn into a pulse-raising five-set epic.

(Editing by Miles Evans; to query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index