Chris Eaton strung his own rackets yesterday, saving a pretty penny in the process, and used them to devastating effect as the world No 661, the lowest-ranked player in the men’s draw, won the match of his life in the gathering gloom on No 3 Court at Wimbledon.

The 20-year-old right-hander from East Horsley, Surrey, defeated Boris Pashanski, the world No 114 from Serbia, 6-3, 7-6, 6-4 with tennis of such crisp variety and assuredness that one was left to wonder where Eaton has been hiding all these years. There were hugs and smiles all round in the British camp, and why not, for this is a genuine good-news story where few exist.

Eaton will now meet Dmitry Tursunov, the Russian who, among his many victims, has beaten Tim Henman on grass. In Eaton, he will face something similar, a player who thrives when he moves forward, possesses a delightful single-handed backhand and — perish the heresy — has a better serve than his compatriot, the four-times semi-finalist.

Eaton will earn £17,000 — far and away his largest pay day — even if his run stops here. “It’s going to help me travel around, play the tournaments I want to play, fund my life,” he said. “It’s great. To win a match like this is phenomenal and the way I’ve been serving, I knew I had a chance.”

Eaton lost in the Lawn Tennis Association’s wild-card play-off for a place in the qualifying competition to Jonny Marray, from Sheffield, and, in ordinary circumstances, would have been nursing his disappointment by planning where next he might be attempting to pick up a few ranking points.

He got his place back when two players opted to take a wild-card entry at the Slazenger Open, in Nottingham, last week instead of continuing in the LTA’s play-off competition.

Eaton has accepted his good fortune and turned it into gold. Having twice come from a set down in qualifying and defeated Olivier Patience, of France, to reach the main draw, he struck 26 aces yesterday to go with his 31 against Patience and won 74 per cent of the points when his first serve landed. His father, Mike, said: “He deserves it — he’s worked bloody hard for years.”

Children were lining up to have their pictures taken with Eaton before he had even gathered up his tennis bags. A pity the BBC was showing its highlights programme at the time and did not cut away to a live event that was really worth watching.

So two British men are in the second round, a better-than-average wish list. Andy Murray, the British No 1, looked and played the part, smiling and ultimately flourishing on Centre Court. His return to the sport’s Mecca after a two-year absence was a rollicking success and he has confessed that he is more of a man than the last time he was seen in such surroundings. Murray beat Fabrice Santoro 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 and ultimately had the edge because he is the better player, younger by 14 years, but who has begun to appear and play like the mature individual he has become.

Gone was the fuzz that has often covered his cheeks, gone was the peaked cap that he tends to pull down across his eyes and in its place was a leaner, meaner, sharper, spikier performer. He is more defined as well. “I measured my body fat at Queen’s last week and it was at 6.5 per cent, which is not bad,” he said.

There was more success, too, for the British women, with Anne Keothavong beating Vania King, of the United States, in three sets to earn a second-round tie against the defending champion, Venus Williams, who had earlier ended the hopes of Naomi Cavaday, the British No 5, after being taken to a first-set tie-break.