WIMBLEDON, England – So far, there have been few battle cries, no tirades, and only an occasional glare at a linesman. He won’t even offer more than a half-hearted complaint about being moved down a peg to the third seed. This Wimbledon, Lleyton Hewitt is keeping quiet.

He keeps winning, too, and easily. The Australian with the modest physique and ferocious personality yesterday advanced to his second semifinal appearance at the All England Club with a 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, a lanky left-hander who carried Spain further into this tournament than it had been since 1972.

After missing three months for foot surgery and two cracked ribs he suffered falling down stairs, Hewitt, the 2002 champion here, has surpassed expectations. In five matches, he has dropped just two sets, leaving little cause for his tiresome rallying cry, “C’mon!”

There were only a handful of those shouts against Lopez, either when Hewitt had ended a set or won one of the match’s few tense points. The powerful and limber Lopez can move and swing with grace, stringing together several artistic shots. But he is equally capable of awkward strokes and unseemly mistakes.

Up a break in the first set, Lopez hit a leaping backhand volley wide before double faulting to bring Hewitt even. Then, serving at 5-6 to stay in the set, he missed an easy forehand at midcourt, dumped another forehand into the net, missed a high backhand volley, and tried to hit a forehand drop shot half volley. Lopez again found the net, and Hewitt was off.

The 23-year-old Spaniard reprised this performance in the second set, when he made four errors on his service game at 4-5.Though he pushed Hewitt to a tiebreak in the third, he could not earn a break point in either of the last two sets.

“He was serving unbelievable,” Lopez said. “He didn’t give me any chance.”

For the match, Hewitt won 89% of points on his first serve and 67% on his second, both well above what even the best servers in the game could ask for. Though Hewitt mostly served to Lopez’s weaker backhand, he increasingly challenged the forehand as the match progressed. In all, he aced Lopez 15 times and made only 12 unforced errors.

“My whole game came together well,” Hewitt said. “I had to try to dictate play as much as possible and I was able to do that.”

Chances are the Australian will need an even better performance in the semifinal against Roger Federer, who has beaten him seven straight times. When they last met at a Grand Slam, in last year’s U.S. Open final, Federer won two sets at love.

Hewitt certainly will employ subtler tactics than did Federer’s victim yesterday, Fernando Gonzalez. The Chilean approaches an opponent as a lumberjack does a tree: If it’s still standing, load up your weapon and give it another whack. On one point, Gonzalez hit a forehand 105 mph. Most times he tried to reach that speed or surpass it, though on one strange point he hit a sidespin forehand with a full backswing and follow through, sending Federer wide left.

“To take a swing at such a ball is a little weird,” Federer said. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Federer was handcuffed by a few of Gonzalez’s bullets. More often, though, he extended the rallies and waited for one of the Chilean’s 28 unforced errors. He also hit some stylish shots of his own, including a forehand outside the net post in the first set to earn a break – and set – point. He wrapped up the 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (2) victory with his ninth ace.

For Hewitt, beating Federer would cap off a fantastic run at Grand Slams in the past year. After reaching the finals at the U.S. and Australian Opens (he was injured during the French), an appearance in the Wimbledon final would be an impressive feat, especially considering how little margin for error exists in his brand of precise and consistent tennis.

“Here’s a guy who’s undersized and undermanned playing against great athletes,” said Justin Gimelstob, one of Hewitt’s victims earlier this week. “He just has to figure out a way to try and beat them with the skills that he has. I just have tremendous respect for the fact that he goes out there and competes on the tennis court.”

Not only will he compete against the world no. 1, he will expect to win.

“I believe I’m capable of winning the match,” Hewitt said of the semifinal. “It’s not going to be easy, and I’ve got to play one of my best matches that I’ve got. But I believe that I can do it.”

Hewitt’s chief problem against Feder er has been his tendency to relinquish the lead early. Federer is the best frontrunner in the game, and Hewitt needs to get a foothold in a match to get his adrenaline going. If he stays close, the loud “C’mons!” will no doubt come fast and furious, even on Federer’s mistakes. But do not expect Federer to care.

“Not anymore,” Federer said. “Used to.”