Federer on course for Wimbledon double

Defending champion Roger Federer of Switzerland stayed firmly on course to retain his title with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win.

Top seed and defending champion Roger Federer of Switzerland stayed firmly on course to retain his title with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Sweden's Thomas Johansson in a third round tie on Sunday.

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He next plays either Spain's Feliciano Lopez or Ivo Karlovic of Croatia for a place in the quarter-finals.

A single break in each of the first two sets and two in the third were enough for Federer to win his 20th consecutive match on grass.

Opening activities on what was only the third time in Wimbledon history that the middle Sunday had been used for play, Federer never looked in any danger and in three rounds he has lost just 19 games.

Johansson, the 29-year-old 2002 Australian Open champion who is on the comeback trail after missing the entire 2003 season after knee surgery, kept pace with the odds-on favourite for the title for the opening five games.

But serving on the sixth, the Basle player stepped on the accelerator and broke the Swede with a deft backhand chip down his forehand side.

The younger-than-usual crowd for "People's Sunday" basked under the first warm sunshine of the tournament and they were soon treated to the full panoply of 22-year-old Federer's unique arsenal.

He had Johansson in trouble each time the Swede served and the inevitable break came in the seventh game allowing Federer to smoothly go two sets up.

The third set was more of the same with Federer biding his time and then moving up a gear in the fifth game to break to love with an exquisite forehand down the line which left Johansson gasping.

The Swede did have his first break points of the match in the next game, but Federer served his way out of trouble impressively from 15-40 down.

Three games later it was all over as Federer converted on his second match point with another raking backhand down the line.