Wimbledon: Five-time champion Roger Federer outclassed Mario Ancic — the last man to beat him at Wimbledon — in straight sets Wednesday to reach the semi-finals and extend his grass court winning streak to 64 matches on the first day of significant rain delays at the All England Club.

Riding his dominant serve and punishing forehand, Federer put on a masterful performance to beat Ancic 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 and move another step closer to becoming the second man in history to win Wimbledon six years in a row.

Volatile Russian Marat Safin also reached the semi-finals for the first time on Wednesday with a dogged 3-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-3 victory over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez.

Safin, 28, twice a Grand Slam winner but now a lowly 75 in the world rankings, managed to keep his febrile temperament in check and refused to be denied against the 31st seed.

In a rain-interrupted first set, Lopez was quick to seize the initiative and, in his only outburst of the match, an exasperated Safin sent one ball hurtling over the roof and out of the court. But the lanky Russian, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon in 2001, fought back with much of the power, flair and fluid ground strokes that made him world No. 1 back in 2000.

Safin, who had earlier knocked out third seed Novak Djokovic, took the next three sets with a fine attacking game to earn him a crack at five-time champion Roger Federer in the semi-finals.

Federer served 15 aces, and finished with three straight in the final game — including with a second serve on match point. He won 61 of 71 points on serve, including his last 16, for his 39th straight win at Wimbledon.

“I’m playing great, serving excellent,” said Federer, who hasn’t dropped a set all tournament. This was Federer at his vintage best, holding serve at ease and gliding across the court and ripping shots that flew past Ancic or forced him into errors. He has reached the semi-finals for the 17th consecutive time at a Grand Slam event.

After the start of play was held up by nearly an hour, Federer walked onto Centre Court in his custom-made cardigan just after 1:45pm and glanced up at the threatening skies.

It looked like he wanted to get things over as quickly as possible against Ancic, who beat him in the first round of Wimbledon in 2002, a year before Federer began his run of five titles.

Federer charged through the first set in 20 minutes — winning 12 of the first 14 points, hitting six aces and winning 16 of his 17 service points. The two were 1-1 in the second set before the rain came again and the covers were rolled back onto Centre Court.

They resumed play 2 hours, 10 minutes later, and the two kept holding serve with ease and looked headed toward a tie-breaker until Ancic wobbled and Federer broke for a 6-5 lead. From 30-30, Ancic handed the game to Federer with three straight errors — two missed backhand volleys and a double fault on break point.

The first game of the third set was a 16-minute marathon — only four minutes shorter than the entire first set. The game went to deuce 10 times and Ancic saved four break points before finally converting on his seventh game point with a forehand volley winner, holding up a clenched left fist.

But it was only a matter of time for Federer to break again, and he did for 3-2 when Ancic sailed a forehand long. That was enough as Federer closed it out five games later.

In the seventh game of the set, Ancic ducked and dropped to his knees to get out of the way of a Federer forehand that whizzed past his head at the net. A smiling Federer walked around the net to say he was sorry, and Ancic playfully tossed a ball at him.