World number one Djokovic, the 2011 champion, dropped his serve for the first time at this year´s tournament before beating Tommy Haas, the 35-year-old German 13th seed, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) in the fourth round.[break]
Djokovic will be playing in his 17th successive Grand Slam quarter-final where he will face Tomas Berdych, the seventh seed and 2010 runner-up, who beat Australia´s Bernard Tomic, 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-4.
Djokovic boasts a 13-2 career record over Berdych but lost to him at Wimbledon in 2010.
"Haas is always a tough opponent. I had lost to him twice on grass before. He has great variety in his game and I always knew it would be a tough challenge," said Djokovic, who fired 13 aces and 40 winners.
"It was never going to be easy. I had to work for my games but I served well and returned well. I am happy to have closed it out in straight sets.
"I am playing really good tennis now, maybe even better than when I won the title in 2011."
Second seed Murray took another step closer to ending Britain´s agonising 77-year wait for a men´s champion when he survived a second set wobble to carve out a 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 win over Russian 20th seed Mikhail Youzhny.
Murray, the runner-up to Roger Federer in 2012, will face Spain´s Fernando Verdasco for a place in the semi-finals.
The Scot has an 8-1 winning record over unseeded Verdasco, a former top-10 player.
Murray had to battle back from 2-5 down in the second set to quell the threat posed by Youzhny, who needed treatment on a shoulder injury after one game of the third set.
Murray put in an impressive serving performance, firing 15 aces and hitting 45 winners past the experienced Russian.
"It was a tough match, the first couple of sets especially. He also had a few chances at the beginning of the third set as well but once I got ahead in the third I concentrated very hard not to let him back in," said Murray.
The Scot said he wasn´t getting carried away by the national hysteria as he tries to become Britain´s first champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
He is wary of becoming another shock Wimbledon victim, like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
"Roger´s lost and Rafa´s lost. All these guys are better players than me and have achieved a lot more than me and so if they can lose so can I. I just concentrate on the next one and try and get through it," he said.
Verdasco, a former world number nine who now stands at 54 in the world and is playing his 41st successive major, reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over unseeded Frenchman Kenny De Schepper.
Davis Cup teammates Jerzy Janowicz and Lukasz Kubot set-up the first ever all-Polish quarter-final.
Janowicz, the 24th seed, defeated Austria´s Jurgen Melzer, 3-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 on the back of 16 aces and 34 winners as he reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final.
The 22-year-old was joined in the last eight just moments later by 31-year-old Kubot, the lowest-ranked player left at 130 in the world, who defeated France´s 111th-ranked Adrian Mannarino, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The last Pole to reach the last-eight at Wimbledon was Wojtek Fibak in 1980.
"It´s unbelievable what is going on right now. We have two players in the quarter-finals and a woman in the quarter-finals. I think this is by far the best that possibly could happen to Polish tennis," said Janowicz.
Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer reached the quarter-finals for the second successive year by firing 53 winners in his 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/3), 6-1, 6-1 win over Croatia´s unseeded Ivan Dodig.
He goes on to tackle Argentine eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro who reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 win over Andreas Seppi, the 23rd seeded Italian.
Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, admitted that he is still being bothered by knee trouble.
"It bothers me a lot. I couldn´t extend 100 percent the knee. The tapes for today helped me to be careful in some movements. But it is not enough," said Del Potro.
The 31-year-old Ferrer, who was defeated in the French Open final by Nadal last month, will be playing in his seventh consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final.
Lisicki stuns Serena in latest Wimbledon giant-killing
LONDON, July 1: Serena Williams became the latest victim of this year´s Wimbledon giant-killings as the world number one slumped to a stunning 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 defeat against German 23rd seed Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round on Monday.
Williams followed second seed Victoria Azarenka and world number three Maria Sharapova out of the women´s tournament, while defending champion Roger Federer and two-time Wimbledon winner Rafael Nadal suffered shock exits from the men´s draw in the first week.
Since an embarrassing first round loss against Virginie Razzano at last year´s French Open, Williams had won 77 of her 80 matches, collecting the Wimbledon, US Open, French Open and Olympic titles in the process.
The 31-year-old, a 16-time Grand Slam champion, had swept through the first week, dropping just 11 games in her opening three matches to extend her winning run to 34 matches, but she had no answer to Lisicki´s big-serve and booming ground-strokes.
"I´m still shaking, I´m so happy", said Lisicki, breaking into tears.
"Serena played a fantastic match. She´s such a tough opponent and it´s just an amazing feeling to win."
Serena felt she let victory slip away, saying: "I definitely made too many errors, but she was playing with nothing to lose. When you play with such freedom this kind of thing can happen.
"I felt I was on the verge of winning in the third set but I was physically unable to hold serve after that."
Lisicki, a semi-finalist in 2011 who has never been past the fourth round at any other Grand Slam, will play Estonia´s Kaia Kanepi for a place in the last four.
Kanepi had shattered Britain´s dreams of a first woman in the Wimbledon quarter-finals for 29 years, beating unseeded Laura Robson 7-6 (8/6), 7-5.
Robson was bidding to become the first British woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final since Jo Durie at Wimbledon in 1984, but the Australia-born teenager left Court One crying tears of frustration.
Former champion Petra Kvitova booked her fourth consecutive Wimbledon quarter-final appearance with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 win over Spain´s Carla Suarez Navarro.
Czech eighth seed Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011, overpowered Spanish 19th seed Suarez Navarro with 23 winners and will face Belgian 20th seed Kirsten Flipkens for a place in the semi-finals.
As the highest seed remaining in the bottom half of the draw, Kvitova has a golden opportunity to reach her second Grand Slam final.
"I was pretty nervous today. There´s a bit more pressure because everyone expects me to win," Kvitova said.
"I knew I had quite a good chance to beat her. I didn´t play my best but it´s most important to win the last point and I did."
Flipkens, the 2003 junior champion, sealed her first Grand Slam quarter-final berth with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 victory against Italian veteran Flavia Pennetta.
The 27-year-old, who had failed to get past the third round in five previous Wimbledon appearances, appeared overwhelmed by her success as she crouched down to kiss the grass before wiping away tears as she waved to the crowd.
Chinese sixth seed Li Na raced into the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-0 demolition of Italian 11th seed Roberta Vinci.
The 2011 French Open champion took just 55 minutes to win, matching her Wimbledon best, having made the quarter-finals in 2006 and 2010.
"My coach said this was a match I should win and if I can come to the quarter-final, tomorrow is a bonus. I really want to cash the bonus," Li said.
Next up for Li is Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, last year´s runner-up, who is now the highest ranked player left after a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win against Bulgaria´s Tsvetana Pironkova.
American 17th seed Sloane Stephens reached her first quarter-final after battling back to beat Puerto Rico´s Monica Puig 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
Stephens, 20, next faces French 15th seed Marion Bartoli, the runner-up in 2007, who cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win against Karin Knapp, the Italian world number 104.
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