WIMBLEDON, England -- Goran Ivanisevic harnessed a consistent serve and powered his way to another Wimbledon quarterfinal.

In a matchup of big servers, Ivanisevic outgunned Britain's Greg Rusedski 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4 Monday to earn a quarterfinal matchup against Russia's Marat Safin. Ivanisevic has 120 aces in his four matches.

A three-time runner up, the Croat is no stranger to the final. And the only unseeded quarterfinalist says he has reached his best-ever Wimbledon form.

"Maybe I'm flying at the moment," he said. "Hopefully I can continue like that."

Hampered by a persistent shoulder injury that needs surgery, Ivanisevic has dropped so low in the rankings he needed a wild card to play at Wimbledon. He got it on the basis that he reached the finals in 1992, '94 and '98.

He has repaid the organizers with some standout serving and colorful behavior on court, removing his shirt and throwing it to the crowd after beating rising American star Andy Roddick.

He also revealed during the championship that his opponents have to face two or even three Gorans because he has to battle some kind of split personality, which often disrupts his game.

He said just two Gorans beat Rusedski.

"They are together here, playing together, living together, fighting together," he said. "And this is just perfect. When these two are together then you can expect anything. I'm proving right now that I'm playing maybe the best tennis I've ever played at Wimbledon."

So what does the third Goran do?

"He's a special one," Ivanisevic said. "That is the brain one, the emergency one. When it's tough, he steps in. But sometimes he cannot help because the crazy Goran is too crazy or the good one is too good.

"Here (at Wimbledon) he stepped in once and did a good job. Otherwise he was sitting here, watching the enjoying the two Gorans working together."

Ivanisevic believes he is getting better round by round.

"I thought I could not play better than against Roddick," he said. "And then today I came and played a great match, very focused, very concentrated, served well, volleyed well and returned well. So I think I can play maybe even better next match."

In a matchup of two of the biggest left-handed servers in the game, the Croat made it 9-0 in head-to-head meetings, hurling down 22 aces after the 41 he launched against Roddick in round three.

The opening set went predictably to a tiebreaker yet lasted only 34 minutes. Ivanisevic raced into a 5-0 lead in the tiebreaker and won it on his fourth set point.

He then broke Rusedski in the third game of the second set and the seventh game of the third for the crucial moments of the match.

Rusedski, whose best performance here was reaching the quarterfinal in 1997, became so frustrated at his inability to reach the Croat's serves that he handed his racket to one of the ball boys.

"He's the best server in the world by no question the way he played today," Rusedski said. "You don't get to three Wimbledon finals by fluke. If he serves like that for the rest of the championship he's got a chance to win it.

"It's unbelievable to think he hasn't been able to win Wimbledon with that serve."