Roger Federer delivered another Centre Court masterclass on Saturday to beat the big-serving Sam Groth and keep his hopes of winning an eighth Wimbledon title alive.
Powerful Australian Groth fired down the second-fastest serve in Wimbledon history at 147 miles per hour, just 1mph shy of Taylor Dent's record, but never really looked like ending the classy Federer's quest for more SW19 glory at the third-round stage.
There was no repeat of the sublime 'hot dog' lob that the classy Swiss conjured up against Sam Querrey, but the second seed still had a packed crowd shaking their heads in disbelief with an array of sublime shots as he won 6-4 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-2.
Federer, who beat another powerful opponent in the form of Querrey in the second round, showcased serving prowess of his own as he came up with 17 aces to Groth's 21 and produced 56 winners.
The irrepressible 17-time grand-slam champion did drop his first set of the tournament, but was generally in ominous form and will now face world number 22 Roberto Bautista Agut in the fourth round.
Federer claimed the upper hand in the first set by breaking in a lengthy fifth game after failing to take two earlier opportunities.
He served out the set to love and pressed home his advantage by winning the only break point of the second set in the first game, then once again not giving Groth a look-in as he again wrapped up the set .
The legendary Federer was barely breaking sweat on another warm day in south-west London, but Groth was in no mood to throw the towel in as he saved two break points in the third set and forced a tie-break.
He then claimed a solitary mini-break courtesy of a Federer double-fault and the match was prolonged when the Swiss sent a passing shot into the tramlines.
There was to be no stunning fightback, though, as normal service was resumed in the fourth set. Federer won the first three games and broke again to secure victory - with Groth failing to return another exquisite shot from the seven-time Wimbledon winner.