Thomas Johansson reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time on Monday, taming Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.
The 30-year-old Swedish 12th seed, the oldest man still left in the men's singles, dropped serve just once and on his way to victory in two hours 12 minutes.
Mirnyi cracked down 15 aces, taking his tally to a tournament-leading 89, but 2002 Australian Open Johansson had too much craft, seizing his chances in ruthless fashion.
The Swede, who reached the semi-finals of the recent Stella Artois tournament, will play David Nalbandian of Argentina for a place in the semi-finals.
Johansson will take on David Nalbandian, who charged into the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 7-6, 6-0 victory over France's hot prospect Richard Gasquet.
Two days after ending the challenge of 18-year-old British hopeful Andrew Murray, the 18th seeded Nalbandian captured the scalp of the last teenager in the men's draw en route to the last eight for the first time since 2002, when he lost in the final.
Despite running away with the final set, Nalbandian did not have it all his way against the talented young Frenchman, who had claimed his first ATP tour title on grass at Nottingham.
Midway through the second set, trailing 3-1 and attempting to gain a break back in the fifth game, he became embroiled in a heated exchange with umpire Wayne McKewen.
Nalbandian marched up to the Australian and shouted: "You can't tell me you didn't see that (ball) fall on the line?"
McKewen retorted: "Be careful with what you're saying."
Nalbandian then appeared to calm down and swiftly broke Gasquet to get back on to level terms.
Gasquet matched Nalbandian's tenacious baseline play with some blistering shots of his own during the first two sets but once the Argentine had clinched the tiebreak 7-3, the 27th seed simply wilted on a baking court two.
