Wimbledon fairytale ends for Marcus Willis, but world no. 772 cashes in

Marcus Willis of Great Britain reacts during the Men's Singles second round match against Roger Federer on day three of Wimbledon. Photo / Getty

Roger Federer sent Marcus Willis back to his $50-an-hour coaching job after ending the world No.772's captivating Wimbledon run in tennis's real-life David versus Goliath battle.

The mighty Federer, seven-times champion and 10-times finalist, denied the sentimental favourite in straight sets to join top-seeded titleholder Novak Djokovic in round three.

Willis, who stole the hearts of Britain with his charge from pre-qualifying to the second round, at least made Federer break sweat in the Swiss master's 6-0 6-3 6-4 on Wednesday.

"He fought, he tried, he hustled. I thought he handled it great on the court," Federer said.

Willis did, too, given the extraordinary circumstances of taking on arguably the game's greatest player on the sport's greatest stage months after almost quitting in despair.

"It's amazing. Not my standard Wednesday, that. Next Wednesday might be quite different," said the 25-year-old British No.23.

"(I'll be) feeding them in to Mini Reds. Is it Mini Reds on Wednesday?

"I don't know, I have to check my diary and see who I've got on a Wednesday. It's not playing Roger Federer on Centre Court."

The lowest-ranked qualifier to win a grand slam match in 28 years settled after a nervy first-set bagel to finally clinch his first game after 30 minutes neat.

The crowd's deafening applause almost raised the closed roof.

With his unorthodox style of dunks and slices off both wings, left-handed Willis even conjured a break point for an improbable 4-2 lead in the third set before Federer's class prevailed.

Willis took his season earnings from less than STG300 ($NZ567) to more than STG50,000 ($NZ94,500) for his seven stunning wins over the past fortnight, but said the memories were worth far more than that.

"Yeah, it was surreal," he said of his unforgettable journey.

"I can hold my head high. I've had a fantastic few weeks."

Even as Federer marches on in his much headier quest for a record eighth men's crown, the 17-times grand slam champion admitted it was impossible not to be taken by Willis's rags-to-riches tale.

"This story is gold," he said. "He's made waves in our sport with a very low ranking to make it very far.

"It's not just that he got a wildcard into qualifying and he's ranked 300, he comes from much further than that.

"I'll remember most of the Centre Court matches here at Wimbledon, but this one will stand out because it's that special and probably not going to happen again for me - to play against a guy 770 in the world."

Djokovic earlier eased past Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-5) for his open-era record 30th consecutive win at the slams. Eighth seed Dominic Thiem beat Florian Mayer 7-5 6-4 6-4 and 10th seed Tomas Berdych completed a 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 6-1 7-6 (7-2) win over Ivan Dodig.

- AAP