Andy Murray is through to the semi-finals of Wimbledon for the first time in his career after a straight-sets victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero.

The British title hope started a little sluggish but soon raised his level to post a 7-5 6-3 6-2 victory over the former world number one.

He will now face American star Andy Roddick in Friday's semi-finals where victory will see him become the first Briton to reach the men's singles final since 1938.

"I'm very happy to come through in straight sets because I had a long one the round before,'' said Murray. "To get to the semi-finals for the first time is nice and I'll try my best to go further.

"There were quite a lot of errors from both of us at the start. I served very well but from the back of the court it was very very hot out there today and quick, so there were quite a few mistakes early in the match.

"Once I got the first set I started to settle down and I returned great at the end.''

With Murray starting a little sluggish, it looked as if he was still feeling the effects of his five-hour battle under the Centre Court roof on Monday night.

With the sun shining there was no need for the roof on this occasion, but the hot conditions meant Ferrero - only playing here after receiving a wild card from the organisers having slipped down the rankings - felt totally at home.

Both players stood firm on serve until the 12th game. Ferrero managed to save one set point but on the second he produced a disastrous double fault to give Murray a one-set lead.

Ferrero was not disheartened though and he made a flying start to set two.

A fine crosscourt forehand took him to 15-40 on the Murray serve and although the Briton saved the first break point with a big serve, he netted a backhand on the second to slip behind.

There would have been some concerns among the partisan crowd as the score progressed to 3-1, but at that stage Murray suddenly picked up his intensity and Ferrero was unable to cope.

From 1-3, deuce, Murray went on a remarkable run which saw him claim 20 of the next 21 points and he took the set 6-3, finishing it with an ace.

Ferrero, the 2003 French Open champion, was left facing a mountain to climb and it was a challenge was not up to.

Returning superbly, Murray broke Ferrero's serve again in the fifth game of the third set.

Ferrero saved two break points, the second with a wonderful drop shot, but the third seed created another chance and took it with lovely forehand down the line.

A second break - this one to love - left Murray serving for the match and moments later it was all over. The players had been on court just an hour and 41 minutes.

Looking ahead to his semi-final meeting with Roddick, who won a five-set marathon with Lleyton Hewitt to progress, Murray said: "You try and focus on each match.

"A semi-final is something I've not experienced here before but at the US Open last year I played a semi-final against the number one in the world (Rafael Nadal). I'm going to have a tough match but I feel like I can win if I play well.''

Title favourite Roger Federer swatted aside the challenge of giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic as if he were an irritant fly to book his place in the semi-finals.

The ATP Tour's ace king has not dropped serve in reaching the last eight, but Federer picked him off when he needed to en route to a 6-3 7-5 7-6 (7/3) victory.

Federer will now meet Tommy Haas for a place in what would be his seventh successive final in SW19.

Victory in Sunday's title decider would see Federer break Pete Sampras' all-time record of 14 Grand Slam singles titles, a tally he equalled by winning last month's French Open.

But speaking after his latest win, the Swiss said: "I'm happy with the way I'm playing, which is always most important.

"I just won my quarters, so my mind has not started wondering yet. I think tomorrow I'll prepare for a tough weekend ahead of me.

"It would be writing in the history books of tennis but it's not there yet. It's still far away - many points, many serves, many forehands."

All the pre-match talk had been about Karlovic's huge serve which had not been broken in SW19, nor at the warm-up tournament at Queen's Club.

However, Karlovic soon found out that his level of opposition had gone up considerably as the world number two broke him in only his second service game.

The 6ft 10in star was left floundering by two superb returns, one on the backhand making it 15-40 and the second a crunching forehand down the line which earned Federer a 3-1 lead.

Indeed it was Federer's serve proving the more difficult to return and he went on to close out the set with a great pick-up on the forehand. It had taken just 23 minutes and the second seed had lost just three points on his own delivery.

The second set followed a similar pattern, although this time Federer had to wait until game 11 to break.

Another tremendous backhand winner on the return of serve brought up two break points and he needed only one as the Croat could only get the frame on another searing backhand pass.

Karlovic finally managed to take Federer to deuce in the fifth game of the third set, but the five-time champion got himself out of that situation comfortably enough.

The 22nd seed was regularly overhitting as he struggled to cope with Federer's changes of pace.

He still managed to force a tie-break but after losing the first point, Federer was never headed as he wrapped up a straight-sets win in just an hour and 43 minutes.

The win took Federer into his 21st successive Grand Slam semi-final - a run which began at Wimbledon in 2004.

Karlovic had to admit he had been outplayed.

"I was a little bit nervous in the beginning. In the first two (sets) he was playing unbelievably. He almost did not give me any chance."

And while Federer may not want to talk about possibly rewriting the tennis history books, Karlovic is confident that will be the case come Sunday evening.

"Federer's maybe the best player ever but, on the grass, he's by far the best I think," he said.

Asked whether he had seen anyone who could beat the Swiss, Karlovic added: "This year, honestly no."

Meanwhile, German veteran Haas rolled back the years to knock fourth seed Novak Djokovic out.

The 31-year-old set up his semi-final meeting with Federer by beating the Serbian star 7-5 7-6 (8/6) 4-6 6-3.

With Haas serving well throughout the contest, Djokovic was left to regret missing three set points in the second set tie-break.

He did threaten a fightback by winning the third, but Haas refocused to claim the fourth and reach the last four in SW19 for the first time in his long career.

"It's unbelievable,'' Haas said afterwards.

"There no words for it. I'm playing my best tennis and getting this far is a great feeling. To be in the semi here really is amazing for me.''

Looking ahead to his meeting with Federer, a playerhe so nearly beat at the recent French Open, Haas added: "There is not much this guy can't do but I will see if I can annoy him a bit.

"I'll give it my best shot.''

Djokovic was left dejected and blamed his return of serve for the defeat.

"I didn't return well and that's the bottom line. Return is one of my strengths but today it was a real disaster.''

In the day's last quarter-final, Roddick finally got the better of former champion Hewitt 6-3 6-7 (10/12) 7-6 (7/1) 4-6 6-4 to return to the last four in SW19 for the first time since 2005.

Roddick said: "I'm super relieved just coming off the court and really, really happy.

"I hadn't really been in the Grand Slam picture much the last two years and now it's my second semi-final of the year so far so I'm thrilled right now.''

"It was tough from a mental standpoint, because Lleyton wasn't going away and there were kind of a lot of ebbs and flows to the match.

"I'm just happy to be on the good side of it. Right now it's a mixture of happiness, of relief. In your mind you're trying to stay the course for four hours, constantly figuring out what you're going to do.

"Your mind is just racing for four hours, so then it's relief, happiness, and almost an instant shutdown mode. But I was happy to be through."

"Recovering from the fourth set was hard," Roddick said. "I thought he started playing a lot better there.

"And the fifth was a dogfight too. I had to come up with probably the best half-volley I've ever hit in my life to save break point.

"But I played a lot better in the fifth than I did probably from the second on. I returned a lot better and even had looks early in the set, but he came up with some good serves.

Hewitt was left to rue two errors at the end of the deciding set which cost him a break in game nine and ultimately the match.

"I couldn't take my chances when I needed to," said Hewitt, the 2002 champion.

"I just missed a couple of short forehands there when I had the opportunity to come in on his backhand.

"Then on break point I actually played a good point, and he came up with a good pass.

"Coming into this particular tournament I felt pretty good physically, and I knew mentally I'd be able to hang around for five sets against the best guys," Hewitt explained.

"It's more just an extra added belief now that I can go out there and can do it more than anything."