Federer - third final in a row (Getty Images).

Roger Federer is into his third consecutive Wimbledon final after crushing Lleyton Hewitt once again.

The Swiss ace, winner the last two years in SW19, triumphed 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-4) on Centre Court to continue his impressive record against the Australian.

Federer has now won the pair's last eight matches, a run which includes the last 15 sets they have played.

He was in control from the off and even though he had an early break of serve cancelled out, Federer went on to break again in game eight before serving out.

It took just a single break in the second set, Federer winning it 6-4 to leave Hewitt with a mountain to climb.

The world number two, controversially seeded three here, looked up for the challenge as he battled away in trademark fashion from the baseline.

However, despite often getting up on Federer's serve he could not break through.

Hewitt was denied a break chance midway through the set by a disputed overrule from the umpire, and when Federer served to stay in the set at 5-6, Hewitt moved up 30-0 before two well-timed aces from the top seed helped him force a tie-break.

Federer was always in control of that, moving 4-1 up before serving it out 7-4 to claim a place in the final against either Andy Roddick or Thomas Johansson.

Roddick led their clash 6-5 in the first set - all games going with serve - when rain interrupted proceedings.

They will now return at noon on Saturday to complete their clash.

Afterwards Federer said: "The next match is huge to me.

"I'm very proud to be in my third Wimbledon final, it means a lot to me.

"I was a little tense before the match and I didn't serve well in the beginning. But I'm happy the nerves do come up or I'm in the wrong sport.

"I don't know if I played really great or just good. I'm just relieved and happy I coped with it today.

"But I think this performance is definitely good enough to win Wimbledon."

Hewitt could only pay tribute to his conqueror.

"He served better than me," he said. "On his service games, he can rely on getting out of trouble if he's 15-30 down or love-30 with big first serves.

"That's why he's the best player. He dictated play better than me. That's basically where he got the win."

Earlier in the day, Lindsay Davenport had secured her place in the ladies' final by completing victory over Amelie Mauresmo.

Davenport led 5-3 in the final set of their semi-final when rain stopped play on Thursday evening.

Mauresmo was serving at 15-0 when play resumed and successfully held serve to reduce the deficit.

But Davenport showed no nerves at all as she served out to love to complete a 6-7 7-6 6-4 victory.

The top seed will now face former champion Venus Williams in Saturday's final.

Davenport, who lost to Williams in the 2000 final, told the BBC: "It's pretty amazing.

"There was a lot of stress and nerves the last 24 hours, waiting to go play and having to stop. The conditions were really tough.

"I had all the momentum last night when the rain came so thought it could have gone against me but I was able to serve a good game today.

"I was down a lot of the way and it was really tough.

"I went through stages when I was playing well and not playing well but I was hanging in there until I was able to win the second set and thought I was playing better when the rain came."

Mauresmo, who was twice a break up in the second set, said: "I knew it would be a tough match.

"Lindsay has been playing some great tennis as she always does on grass.

"It was a great match but even though you play great you still want the win. Of course I played good but not good enough to beat Lindsay.

"It's very disappointing right now, I really felt I would have been able to win this match but she was able to come back with great returning games at key moments."