LONDON (AFP) - Roger Federer brushed aside Aussie dangerman Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon on Monday while rival Rafael Nadal overcame an injury scare to also reach the quarter-finals.

Five-time champion Federer will now take on Mario Ancic, the last man to beat him at the All England Club, for a place in the semi-finals.

Top seed Federer shattered father-to-be Hewitt's hopes with a 7-6 (9/7), 6-2, 6-4 victory which took the five-time champion into the quarter-finals.

Unseeded Ancic, whose career has been blighted by illness and injury, came back from two sets down to beat Spanish 22nd seed Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 13-11.

The Croatian shot to fame here in 2002 when he defeated the Swiss star in the first round in what was Federer's last defeat on a grasscourt.

The world number one, bidding to become the first man to win six titles in a row, racked up his 63rd successive win on grass by dismissing Hewitt, the last man to win the title in 2002 before the top seed created his private monopoly.

"I underestimated Mario that day," recalled Federer who has since defeated Ancic five times out of five, including a straight-sets win in the quarter-finals here in 2006.

"I was completely surprised, a little shellshocked. That was my problem. He was new on the tour and it taught me not to underestimate my opponents regardless of their ranking or technique."

Spanish second seed Nadal, the runner-up for the last two years, saw off Russian 17th seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 and will now face either France's Richard Gasquet or Britain's Andy Murray.

The four-time French Open winner cruised through to his third successive quarter-final, but needed eight minutes of treatment on his right knee after falling awkwardly in the second game of the Court One match.

"I felt something behind the knee. I was scared at the start but it got better later," said the Spaniard, who lost to Youzhny in Chennai this year.

"Youzhny is a difficult opponent. I have lost to him many times so I'm happy to win and get through to the quarter-finals."

Hewitt, the 20th seed, went into the fourth round match nursing a long-standing hip injury and regularly winced with pain on Centre Court.

His agony had been eased by the announcement earlier Monday that he and wife Bec, a former soap star, were expecting their second child in January.

However, Federer ruined the celebrations by claiming his 14th win in 22 meetings with the gutsy 27-year-old Australian.

Hewitt had his chances but all eight break points he painstakingly carved out went to waste.

Nadal's compatriot Feliciano Lopez, the 31st seed, reached his second Wimbledon quarter-final with a gruelling 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 8-6 win over 2006 semi-finalist Marcos Baghdatis, the Cypriot 10th seed.

Lopez will face either former world number one Marat Safin or Switzerland's Feliciano Lopez.

Meanwhile, Germany's Rainer Schuettler and Arnaud Clement struck a blow for the thirty-somethings by reaching the last eight and will meet for a semi-final spot.

Schuettler, 32, reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) over Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic.

Clement, 30, the world number 145, also made it through to a first quarter-final with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 over Croatian 19-year-old Marin Cilic.

"I had to come back because I was always trying to work hard, trying to stay fit," said Schuettler, the 2003 Australian Open runner-up whose recent career has been curtailed by a knee injury and glandular fever.