When a bug landed at his feet on Centre Court yesterday, Roger Federer, gentle chap that he is, tried to usher it to safety with his racket. He had just about succeeded when a ball boy marched up and crushed the insect under foot. “There's a thought,” Federer must have mused, and promptly set about squashing Mario Ancic.

It was brutal, almost cruel at times, but mostly it was beautiful to watch. It was a treat for all but one man at the back. “Get on with it. Bring on Andy,” he shouted, which goes to show that you find imbeciles everywhere.

If our mindless friend was too impatient to appreciate the breathtaking changes of pace, the grace, the effortless ease of the champion, he should not be allowed out on the streets, never mind to buy a ticket. Everyone else, quite rightly, regarded Federer's quarter-final triumph as worthy of a standing ovation.

Mind you, no one thought that Federer was more brilliant than Federer himself. Asked afterwards how often he finds the near-perfection attained in the first set of his 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 win, his reply was matter-of-fact and wonderfully haughty. “Quite often, actually,” he said.

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On Monday we had a vivid revelation of how far Andy Murray has come. Yesterday we had an even more vivid revelation of how far he has to go

Simon Barnes

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Asked if not just a sixth straight Wimbledon triumph but a seventh was realistic, he was even more bold. “Sure, I mean I'll have a chance to win this tournament for the next five or ten years,” he said. “There will always be tough opponents, dangerous opponents. But I found a way to win always. Of course my dream is not only to win this year but many more years to come.”

Such remarks might sound arrogant, but more likely they are retaliation against the doubts expressed about Federer's form this season, before and after his trouncing by Rafael Nadal in the French Open final in Paris last month. A retort to the sort of pre-tournament reservations expressed by Bjorn Borg, who had ranked the Swiss as third favourite here this year, despite his five straight titles. An “up yours” - a polite one, obviously - to the idea that Nadal is about to knock him off his grass-court perch.

Struggling? Moi? Federer's response has been to rattle off five straight-sets victories at his favourite venue and this one over Ancic in the quarterfinals was his most impressive.

Make that 63 consecutive wins on grass, 38 at Wimbledon stretching back to 2002 and 17 grand-slam semi-finals in a row, although the last thing Federer's game warrants is to be reduced to a bombardment of cold statistics.

The first set yesterday was about as good as it gets, a 19-minute rout in which Federer conceded only one point off his own serve in four games. “I never saw him serving better,” Ancic said, to which Federer added: “I don't hardly practise it,” At that point even his insouciance was sounding stretched.

At 1-1 in the second set the rain forced a two-hour delay. A chance for Ancic to eat some spinach and to come out far more aggressively. “I'm so proud of myself how I was doing in that second, third set,” the Croat said. By which the 2004 semi-finalist meant that there was at least one game when he made Federer momentarily break into a sweat.

On his own serve, Ancic made one game stretch to 15 minutes, but this was about as comfortable as grand-slam quarter-finals are going to get, even for Federer. As the world No1 rained down unanswerable serves and swatted backhands with piercing precision, the only reservation was that this tournament has still not seen how his game will withstand intense pressure.

It was not always this way for Federer, with an old clip being run during the rain break of his first-round defeat by Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 2000, when a mop-haired, baseball cap-wearing angry young man was hurling his racket to the ground in frustration.

“I don't get anxiety like that in a match any more,” he said. “I used to enjoy watching Goran [Ivanisevic] and John McEnroe throwing rackets - I thought it was funny - but I hope the kids see there is a different way.”

Federer looked so comfortable on Centre Court yesterday that, along with the cardigan, he could have taken the pipe and slippers. Marat Safin might have something to say about that, of course, and then there is the small matter of Nadal, whom Federer held off in last year's five-set final, but not with much to spare.

Trampling on a 6ft 5in Croat is one thing; as easy as squashing a fly as it happened. Restraining a bullish Spaniard may prove a whole different game.