Federer next for giant killer

The pair will open the fourth round of Wimbledon today on Centre Court. It’s a rematch of their French Open final, which was won by Federer, completing his career Grand Slam while tying Pete Sampras’s record of 14 major victories.

The second-seeded Federer has beaten Soderling on three surfaces and twice already this year. That doesn’t mean he will be underestimating the No. 13 seed, who knocked out four-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal three weeks ago.

“[Soderling’s] got a huge game,” Federer said after beating Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round Friday. “Now he’s also got the taste of beating the top players. That only makes him more dangerous.”

Reaching the fourth round is Soderling’s best performance at Wimbledon in six appearances. Taking on the five-time champion may seem a bit of a mismatch, but then again, so did playing Nadal at Roland Garros.

“It’s very tough to beat Rafa on clay, and it’s as tough to beat Roger on grass,” Soderling said. “But I made it once. It’s going to be a tough match for sure.”

Soderling has taken only one set in 23 played against Federer, and lost to him at Wimbledon last year. The stats are not lost on Federer.

“What stands out to me is that I’ve beaten him so many times that it gives me an incredible amount of confidence,” said Federer, 27. “If I do play my game well, I should be fine.”

Also fine thus far has been the weather, which, going into today’s full slate of fourth-round matches, has been perhaps the biggest upset of the tournament.

The last year there was no rain during Wimbledon was 1995, although the lightest of sprinkles did emerge during Andy Murray’s straight-set victory over Viktor Troicki Saturday, it wasn’t deemed enough to warrant closing the the spiffy new retractable roof.

“The common joke has been that they haven’t had to use it yet,’’ said Andy Roddick, twice a runner-up to Federer. “All this money, and the weather’s been nice.’’

Murray, the third seed, will play his friend, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, in the day’s last match on Centre Court.

Most of the biggest names are still around, but there are some new faces. Most notably: 124th-ranked Melanie Oudin, a 17-year-old from Marietta, Ga., who had to go through qualifying to get into the women’s draw; and 46th-ranked Dudi Sela, the first man from Israel to reach Wimbledon’s fourth round since 1989.

“I mean, on the grass, it’s a lot about the draw, you know?’’ pointed out Sela, who could become the first Israeli to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal in the 41-year Open era.

Oudin will play No. 11 Agnieszka Radwanska, while Sela takes on No. 4 Novak Djokovic. The matches are among the 16 - eight each, men’s and women’s - spread across six courts today.

“It’s a good ticket, I guess, if you’re a tennis fan,’’ Roddick said. “Even if you don’t get on Centre, your grounds pass will do just fine.’’