Top favourites advance

Nalbandian toiled for more than four hours to overcome Slovakia's Karol Kucera on Saturday and will now face British favourite Tim Henman in the fourth round. The Argentinian, who did not get a chance to step out on Centre Court before last year's final, is feeling confident about his first outing in the hallowed arena in 2003. "I'll be looking to do my job and that's it," said Nalbandian. "We both won't want to lose...so it's going to be a close and tough match."

Bidding to become the first Brit since Fred Perry in 1936 to lift the men's trophy, the 10th seed maintained his impressive record at his home grand slam by reaching the last 16 for the eighth consecutive year.

Soderling had beaten French Open runner-up Martin Verkerk en route to his meeting with Henman, but the 18-year-old simply crumbled on his debut appearance on Centre Court.

Serving became a nightmare for Soderling and he faced break points in every service game in the first set.

Roared on by a partisan crowd, the British number one sealed the first set in 34 minutes when the 152nd-ranked Swede failed to control a service return.

Despite being overwhelmed in the second, Soderling refused to cave in when Henman was serving for the match at 5-3 in the third. He broke the Henman serve with two cracking returns but succumbed in the next game, sailing a backhand long on match point.

Third seed Ferrero, who had never progressed beyond the third round in his previous two appearances at the grasscourt grand slam, overcame a spirited fightback from the 30-year-old who has a reputation for knocking out seeds at grand slams.

Sargsian, conqueror of 26th seed James Blake in the previous round, started confidently, serving out the first game to love and then immediately put pressure on the Spaniard's serve which Ferrero only held after four deuces.

The 23-year-old Ferrero, playing only his eighth match at Wimbledon, quickly settled and after a series of long baseline rallies he broke Sargsian in the seventh game.

Sargsian tried to bring Ferrero to the net, but he quickly found himself a set down and then a break down in the second.

Ferrero recovered from 0-40 to salvage serve with four straight winners on his way to taking the second set and looked on course for a quick finish.

But Sargsian, looking for his first visit to the round of 16 at Wimbledon, fought back to take the third as Ferrero went off the boil.

The Spaniard, one of only two grand slam winners left in the men's draw, regained the momentum, however, and wrapped up the match to set up a meeting with 13th-seeded Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean.

The 33-year-old world number one, seeking a second Wimbledon title after an 11-year gap, looked out of sorts on Centre Court in the first set, making uncharacteristc errors even on his signature two-handed backhand.

The 1.93-metre El Aynaoui, ranked 22 in the world, has not beaten Agassi in five meetings and he served with power and precision to produce 19 aces and keep the American on his toes.

Agassi's class and temperament showed in the fourth set which he won 7-4 in the tiebreak after saving three set points in the 12th game. The second seed next meets another big server in Australian Mark Philippoussis.

The injury-plagued Philippoussis, the last Australian man left in after the shock defeat of defending champion Lleyton Hewitt, paid dearly for a poor start against an opponent who refused to be daunted by his booming serve.

Philippoussis, who has had knee surgery three times in 14 months, would not be denied on the baking number two court, finally triumphing after three hours 35 minutes of unrelenting pressure.

Twice he trailed badly in the tie-breaks, twice he came back to gain the crucial advantage in a match that could so easily have swung in favour of the Czech. The Australian has made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon three times in his career.