Evergreen Pozzi powers on

The fairytale is over for Rochus

G Pozzi (It) bt O Rochus (Bel) 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

J Bjorkman (Swe) bt N Godwin (SA) 6-3 6-4 6-4

V Voltchkov (Blr) bt Y El Aynaoui (Mor) 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 7-6 (7-4)

Veteran Gianluca Pozzi rolled back the years to end the Wimbledon adventure of Belgium qualifier Olivier Rochus.

Pozzi may be 35 but he didn't look it as he proved just too strong for his third-round opponent, who is almost half his age.

"I don't feel the age," he said. "At the moment I'm as fit as I've ever been. I'm serving better. I think I'm improving every year."

"I think 28, 30 is your best time. But there are a lot of other athletes in different sports older than 30. Michael Johnson is one year younger than me."

Pozzi had too many tricks up his sleeve for 19-year-old Rochus, who had caused a major upset by beating third seed Magnus Norman in the previous round.

The Italian, who reached the semi-finals of the Stella Artois Championship, may not have been as quick around the court but was tactically superior.

After the first two sets had been shared, he won the third on a tie-break and then took the fourth 6-2 to take his place in the last 16.

Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and Vladimir Voltchkov from Belarus also made it to round four with straight-sets wins.

Bjorkman beat South Africa's Neville Godwin while qualifier Voltchkov caused upset Morocco's Younes El Aynaoui, the conqueror of Britain's Martin Lee.