Do not shed too many tears for Nikolay Davydenko, the No 6 seed, who passed on from these championships yesterday. He never really liked it here anyway. “Wimbledon is the world’s most boring tennis tournament,” he told a Russian magazine last week. “There’s hardly anything to do apart from tennis.” Blimey. More boring than ‘s Hertogenbosch? Duller than Halle? You’ve got to feel sorry for these players, though. They come to a big tennis tournament and what do they find? Tennis.

One should note that the source of these harsh words surprised a few people. A ruthless, automated crushing machine with a more than vaguely military bearing, Davydenko has often been said to have a few problems of his own in the area of scintillation. Hello, kettle? This is pot. You’re black.

Still, the world No 4 is away to pastures more interesting, leaving behind Marcos Baghdatis, who must endure the tennis for a little longer, having created a small surprise yesterday by seeing off his disenchanted opponent in straight sets, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3.

As eager as a puppy and intermittently as eccentric as one, Baghdatis is the far from boring, definitely not bored Cypriot with the 5 o’clock shadow who put out Andy Murray here last year before going on to the semi-finals. His reputation for stretching himself beyond his ranking (he is No 16 in the world) and picking off top-ten players accumulates. Against Davydenko’s mighty serves and hammer-blow forehands, he was persistently resourceful and often breathtakingly energetic, retrieving pile-driven balls that others might have contented themselves with watching complete their journey to the back canvas.

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BACKGROUND

• Federer back rested and too relaxed after holiday

• Djokovic shines to ensure golden year continues

• Ivanovic keeps the Serbia flag flying high

• Baghdatis causes steady rise in interest rates

BACKGROUND

• Wimbledon diary: Facebook serves up a success

• Woods sends cheeky message to Federer

A single moment that summarised his commitment came on Davydenko’s serve in what would be the last game of the match, when Baghdatis fell over behind the baseline in the process of returning an aggressive drive but still made it back up to reach the drop shot with which the Russian had sought to capitalise. Not only did he reach it, he pushed it across court for a winner. It’s true that subduing his hair beneath his bandana is, for the Cypriot, an almost full-time job, yet he somehow juggles it with producing tennis of a powerful and astonishingly elastic order.

And he had the better fans. A miniature Greek-Cypriot barmy army, some 20 strong, was grouped behind his chair, equipped with scarves and flags, some in replica football shirts in the colours of Greece and some in white T-shirts that spelt “Marcos” – for as long as they sat in the right order.

Baghdatis will meet Novak Djoko-vic in the quarter-finals, which could be an even taller challenge. On the evidence of his performance against Lleyton Hewitt yesterday, the 20-year-old Serb is still finding Wimbledon quite interesting.