The 20-year-old Ancic, who used to practice with his legendary countryman when he was a boy, put on a classic exhibition of serve-and-volley tennis to bring to an end for another year home hopes of a first British men's champion for 68 years.

It was Ivanisevic who destroyed 29-year-old Henman's hopes on Centre Court in a marathon semifinal duel in 2001 and it was the great man's natural heir who handed out a repeat dose of misery on Wednesday.

Earlier in the women's section, top seed and defending champion Serena Williams produced her best tennis in the last year to see off the challenge of old rival Jennifer Capriati in the quarterfinals.

The younger of the two Ame-ricans won 6-1, 6-1 in a disappointingly one-sided 45-minute encounter that bore little resemblance to their 15 previous encounters, which were all tightly-fought affairs.

Williams will next go up against the woman many see as the main threat to her bid to win three in a row, France's Amelie Mauresmo who blew hot and cold in defeating Argentina's Paola Suarez 6-0, 7-5, 6-1.A despondent Capriati said that Williams had simply been too good for her.

The other of Thursday's semi-finals, decided on Tuesday, sees the 1999 champion Lindsay Davenport of the United States go up against 17-year-old Russian starlet Maria Sharapova.