Henman & Philippoussis win

The British number one, burdened with the task of providing Britain with its first men's singles champion here since Fred Perry in 1936, eventually booked his place in the last eight after three hours of high drama.

"I won it mentally, it was such a struggle but I wasn't going to give in," Henman said.

Roared on by a fiercely partisan crowd on the show court, and thousands more watching on a giant screen inside the All England Club, the 28-year-old came out firing, playing with controlled aggression to dominate the first set.

Nalbandian refused to panic, however, and he gradually made inroads into Henman's serve, recovering from an early break to force a tiebreak which he won 7-4.

Seven consecutive service breaks followed in a remarkably topsy-turvy third set before Henman finally edged in front.

A weary-looking Nalbandian came from behind again in the fourth set but he finally capitulated when serving to stay in the match. He saved two match points but a netted forehand on the third gave Henman victory.

Philippoussis, unseeded after coming back from injury, banged down 46 aces to overcome the American, who had been bidding for his ninth grand slam title and his second at Wimbledon.

Tension was palpable on the packed number one court as the crowd attempted to lift the 33-year-old Agassi in the final set, but he dropped serve in the seventh game and Philippoussis went in for the kill.

Philippoussis, who has reached the quarter-finals three times here before, now meets Alexander Popp of Germany in the last eight.

The Swiss player, enjoying the best year of his career with four titles already, felt he was lucky to survive a back injury as he had to call the trainer at the start of the first set when suddenly troubled by his back.

"I just couldn't move anymore so I had to call the trainer and hope for a wonder," Federer told reporter. "It was very tough for me. I don't know. I still now can't explain what happened. I don't know how I won today."

"It was totally blocked and, you know, I was always under a lot of pain. As the match went on, it got a little better because the body gets warmer and you get into it and you try to forget it.

Despite serving at less than full speed, Federer took the first two sets before hitting his first patch of trouble. Lopez, bidding to reach his first grand slam quarter-final, raced to a 3-0 lead in the third set.

But Federer, a player of great promise who has consistently under-achieved at grand slams, dispelled any thoughts of an upset by lifting his game to capture his ninth win in a row this year on grass. Looking shell-shocked after his narrow escape, he will really have to pick himself up psychologically if he is to progress further in the tournament.

The fifth-seeded American had to dig deep for victory and his first Wimbledon quarter-final as the Thai put in an inspired display on Centre Court.

Roddick, who had been broken just once in his first three matches, appeared to be hurtling towards victory as he fired six booming aces on his way to wrapping up the rain-interrupted first set in 23 minutes.

But he came unstuck in the second as Paradorn stunned the bookmakers' favourite with a superb display of power hitting from the baseline.

Having saved numerous break-point opportunities in the first two games of the third, Roddick rediscovered his winning touch to seal the third set with a 124 mph (199.6 kph) ace -- his 11th of the match.

The 20-year-old sealed the win with a fizzing forehand crosscourt winner to set up a last eight meeting with either Belarussian Max Mirnyi or doubles specialist Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden.

Despite 6 ft 7 (1.829 metre) Popp's 14-inch (35.56 cm) height advantage over his opponent, he was forced to battle it out with the Belgian and lost the first set.

But after that Rochus, by far the smallest player on the men's tour at 5 ft 5 (1.524 metre), had no answer to his giant rival's booming first serve and gradually lost heart.

Popp also reached the last eight on his only other appearance at Wimbledon in 2000, when a British media desperate for home success made much of the fact that his mother is English.

The 26-year-old, who is ranked 198th in the world, will face either world number one Andre Agassi or Mark Philippoussis for a place in the semi-final.