London: Top seeds Roger Federer and Andy Roddick eased through to the Wimbledon quarter-finals yesterday (June 28, 2004) where they were joined by Tim Henman who kept his dream of becoming the first British men's champion in 68 years alive in thrilling style.

Reigning champion Federer toppled Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5) to set up a titanic last-eight clash with 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia who won a thrilling Centre Court tussle against Spain's Carlos Moya 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7/3).

Roddick, the second seed, reached the last eight, and a clash against Dutchman Sjeng Schalken, with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 win against Germany's Alexander Popp.

But the day's main drama was saved until last when Henman, the fifth seed and four times a semi-finalist, reached the eighth quarter-final of his All England Club career with a nerve-shredding 6-2, 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/5) Centre Court victory over Mark Philippoussis.

Henman's marathon 3hr 7min win gave him a match-up against unseeded Croatian Mario Ancic for a place in the last four.

Henman did it the hard way wasting four match points before securing victory over last year's runner-up in a tense fourth set tiebreak.

"It's tough to make sense of it all. It was such an intense match and the quality of play was so high," said the 29-year-old Henman.