Meticulous Federer sinks Youzhny yet again

* Third seed makes ninth straight Wimbledon quarter-final
* Youzhny loses against Federer for 11th time in a row
By Mark Meadows LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - Roger Federer dropped his first
set of the tournament before his immense attention to detail
helped him overcome Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 6-3 6-3 6-3 on Monday to
seal a place in the Wimbledon quarter-finals. 

"It was a tough first set to lose as I was playing well,"
Federer, who next meets 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France,
said in a televised interview. 

"Clearly losing the first set in a slam is tough mentally. I
was happy I played really well in the second set. It was getting
dark...in the end the sun came up and it was perfect." 

The third seed, bidding to equal Pete Sampras's record of
seven Wimbledon titles, had the first set tiebreak in the bag
but some sloppy shots allowed the 18th-seeded Russian to storm
back and take it 7-5. 

However, Federer's concentration quickly improved with even
a low-flying pigeon failing to ruffle him when serving.  

The often emotionless Swiss simply dropped the ball on the
grass, composed himself and played on. 

An array of clever leaves, confident volleys and backhands
landing right on the baseline put Federer level and then ahead
while his use of line challenges was expert on two very tight
calls in contrast to the reckless Russian. 

Federer amused the spellbound crowd on Court One by twice
sending stray balls straight into the hands of the netside
ballboys to widespread applause. 

His pinpoint accuracy only wavered slightly when he fired
several booming forehands long but his ninth straight last-eight
berth at the All England club was fully deserved as he beat
Youzhny for the 11th time in a row. 

"It's always somewhat tricky playing on Court One. It feels
a touch slower, the sounds are a bit different," Federer said of
his rare foray away from Centre Court. 

"I'm looking forward to a tough battle with Tsonga."