Goran Ivanisevic brutally exposed Britain's Greg Rusedski with a straight sets victory in the fourth round at Wimbledon.

The rejuvenated Croat never looked back after winning the first set by tie-break and broke Rusedski once in each of the following sets for a comfortable victory.

The British number two looked utterly dejected as he revealed his disappointment at his ninth defeat to Ivanisevic.

"Especially with other guys starting to fall out, Sampras not looking at his best and the draw opening up."

Rusedski said he believed Ivanisevic had demonstrated himself to be the best server in the world.

"All I kept seeing were his first serves going by. When you are not even touching them the pressure starts to mount."

The Croatian sent down ace after ace prompting Rusedski at one stage to hand his racquet to a ballboy.

Whereas the three-time finalist looked calm at all times, Rusedski cut a sad figure, never looking confident.

Ivanisevic, who lost in the 1998, 1994 and 1992 finals, said he was now playing the best tennis of his career.

"I did not think I could play any better than I did against Andy Roddick in the last round, but I did.

Back to the drawing board

"I served well, volleyed well and returned well and I think I can play even better against Marat Safin in the quarter-finals."

While Ivanisevic served a predictable 22 aces, Rusedski's serving never reached such consistency, with fewer than 50% of his first serves going in.

By the end of the match Rusedski seemed unable to believe his opponent's serving record.

He never mustered as much as a break-point, while Ivanisevic converted the only two he had. Rusedski admitted he needed to work on improving his returns.

"I have improved my game but I need to go away and comeback in the league of the likes of Agassi or Henman. They manage to get something on his serve."

All hopes now rest on Britain's number one Tim Henman, who takes on American Todd Martin on Centre Court later.