Juan Carlos Ferrero ventured into uncharted territory at Wimbledon on Tuesday when he beat Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic 7-5, 6-3, 7-6. His victory means the Spanish former French Open champion has reached the quarter-final of the grasscourt grand slam for the first time and he will now get a crack at Roger Federer [Images].
His two previous fourth round appearances at Wimbledon both ended in defeat. In 2003 he lost to Sebastian Grosjean and two years ago Federer knocked him out.
"I'm playing good. I'm confident and I have nothing to lose," the 27-year-old 20th seed told reporters looking ahead to his clash with four-times champion Federer. "He's human and has a racket the same as me so I will try everything."
Despite being better known for his claycourt game, the former world number one said he was not surprised to have reached the last eight.
"This year is my best result of course," he said. "All the years I think I play really good in here but I couldn't win the fourth round. That was very important for me.
"My goal at the beginning when I saw the draw was to get to the quarter-final. Right now my best goal is to win tomorrow."
Ferrero is enjoying a resurgent career having nearly dropped out of the world's top 100 early in 2005 after a run of illness and injury. He has played Federer twice already this year, losing in Hamburg and Monte Carlo on clay.
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