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The reigning champion and world number one simply had too much class and variety of shot for a man who was playing his first Wimbledon quarter-final.

Gonzalez is renowned for his big serve and a stunning forehand which had seen him reach this stage without losing a set, but he is also prone to wild unforced errors.

The world number one had won all four of their previous meetings and he swiftly applied the pressure, breaking the Gonzalez serve in the fourth game of the match, albeit courtesy of a double fault from the Chilean.

Gonzalez broke back in the seventh game with a flurry of the spectacular forehands which are his hallmark.

But Federer, with one wonderfully deft angled shot plus another unforced error from his opponent, broke again in the 12th game to take the set.

Federer was organised and controlled and underlined his superiority when he broke the Gonzalez serve in the second game of the second set.

A wild forehand in the eighth game, the Chilean's 18th unforced error, gave Federer another chance to press home his advantage and Federer took it gratefully to break the Gonzalez serve again to win the set and take control of the match.

It was a champion performance from the title holder and the number 21 seed simply did not possess the precision to live with him even though he raised his level in the final set, mixing up power and touch.

He began to threaten the Federer serve, although he wasted a break point with a wild forehand in the ninth game.

In the tie-break, however, Federer forged ahead with a forehand which landed on the line and then served out to take the breaker 7-2 with some ease.

Former winner Lleyton Hewitt crushed surprise quarter-finalist Feliciano Lopez to set up a showdown with Federer.

The 24-year-old Australian continued his impressive form with a 7-5 6-4 7-6 victory over the grass-loving Spaniard in a match which lasted a minute under two hours on Centre Court.

Lopez went into the match in the best form of his life, having knocked over top-10 seeds Mario Ancic and Marat Safin, but Hewitt beat the big-serving Spaniard at his own game, as he produced 15 aces - to climb into second place in the leaderboard with 74 - and another 37 unreturned serves.

Along with his blistering trademark returns, Lopez was simply blown away by the world number two, who has gone through the gears over the last 10 days.

The third-seeded Hewitt was the first to drop his serve but he broke his opponent twice to take the first set 7-5 in 39 minutes.

It was the first set dropped by Lopez since the first round and it was not long before he fell 2-0 behind.

Urged on by the crowd, the Spaniard made his opponent work for every point but it was the type of challenge guaranteed to bring out the best in the pocket-battleship from Adelaide.

The second set went with serve until the 10th game when Hewitt achieved the decisive break after Lopez had produced his second double fault. The Australian took the set 6-4 in 35 minutes to seize control of the match.

There was an air of resignation about Lopez's demeanour at the start of the third set but he somehow hung in without ever seriously threatening the increasingly impressive serve of Hewitt.

He maintained his nerve this time as the third set went all the way to 6-6 but Hewitt played a faultless tie-breaker, which included a 25-stroke rally, the longest of the match, before the Australian took it 7-2.

Thomas Johansson booked his place in the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time with a straight-sets victory over David Nalbandian on Court One, in a match which was interrupted by rain.

The number 12 seed secured his 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 6-2 triumph in just over two-and-a-quarter hours, the first set having taken some 73 minutes against the man who ended Andy Murray's hopes last weekend in round three.

Johansson, who missed the entire 2003 season with a knee injury, had too much control and combinations from the baseline for the Argentinian, runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt in the final three years ago on his debut at the All England Club.

Finally Andy Roddick overcame a brave fightback from Sebastien Grosjean to reach his third successive Wimbledon semi-final.

Roddick ground out a tense 3-6 6-2 6-1 3-6 6-3 victory after two hours 45 minutes on Centre Court to remain on course for a repeat of last year's final against Federer.

The second seed will now face Johansson in the last four on Friday.

"I came in here losing a string of five setters in Grand Slams so to pull two out, especially against a player like Sebastien, really means a lot," said Roddick, who blew a two-set lead to crash out of the French Open in the second round recently.

"He was coming up with the goods. I let it slip a little in the fourth set and he normally makes you pay for that but I was able to slime out a game on his serve and hold on to my own.

"Words can't describe what it means. This is definitely one of my favourite places to play, it has a special place in my heart so to perform well here really means a lot to me."