Wawrinka beats Lopez at Wimbledon to seal Federer clash in last eight

The Swiss, who claimed his first grand slam title earlier this year at the Australian Open, was made to work hard as he saw off Lopez 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (9-7) 6-3.

Victory for Wawrinka sees him qualify for the last eight of the grass-court grand slam for the first time in his career, and sets up a mouth-watering all-Swiss clash with seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer.

Lopez had impressed last month by progressing to the final of the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club, only to lose to Grigor Dimitrov in the showpiece.

That match featured three tie-breaks, and the first two sets of Tuesday's encounter also went the distance.

Both players proved difficult to break throughout the contest, each winning over 80 per cent of points on their respective first serves.

However, it was world number three Wawrinka who prevailed in the tie-breaks, saving four set points in the second, to take control of the match.

The first break point of the match finally arrived in the third set and, although it was saved by Lopez, it was not long before Wawrinka - who fired an impressive 55 winners in the match - finally broke the world number 26 for a 5-3 lead.

Wawrinka comfortably held serve to close out the triumph, and is relishing the prospect of taking on Federer.

"It's (playing Federer) going to be fun, I hope so," Wawrinka said. "To play him on grass here at Wimbledon is going to be something special."