The match belonged to Rafael Nadal, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6, 6-3. Nevertheless, remember the name: Ernests Gulbis. Ernests, incidentally, is not a printing error. Perhaps, with increased familiarity, we shall grow in time to refer to him familiarly as “Ernies”. Or maybe even “Erns”. Certainly we'll be referring to him as something.

It is unlikely that many people on No1 Court would have been able to pick out the 19-year-old Latvian in an identity parade before 1pm yesterday, but he left to an ovation, even in defeat, after stretching the No2 seed in a three-hour performance of extreme power and promise.

Nadal knew about him. He had predicted a tough time for himself against “one of the worst opponents who I can play in the second round - very aggressive, very good serve, very young”. Nadal, of course, is a wizened 22 and so speaks with the wisdom of age. He spoke the truth, too. Stepping on to the court yesterday, Gulbis, who is No48 in the world, bore a passing resemblance to Andy Murray, albeit without the anger. Tall (6ft 3in) and undemonstrative, he also brought with him a service that is bordering on the unplayable and a forehand that could be used to generate electricity. We were seven games into the match before Nadal took even so much as a point off Gulbis's serve.

It was clear from early on that the slightest advance either player could make on the other's service game would need to be capitalised on. And so it was all the more agonising for Nadal that, at 30-all and chasing the game that would have left him serving for the first set, he was on the end of a bad “not up” call while dashing to retrieve one of Gulbis's artful drop shots. Nadal exploded with anger, lost the game and then found himself facing set point against him after a superb lob by Gulbis.

As Nadal sets himself to serve, there is a closely observed concentration-gathering ritual during which there will be at least five bounces of the ball off the racket and then between five and ten bounces out of the hand. Reflecting the additional tension of the moment, on this occasion there were nine bounces off the racket and 13 out of the hand - a European record. Gulbis took the point, nevertheless, and Nadal was in the unusual position of being a set behind in the early stages of a tournament.

Unfortunately, Gulbis could carry the momentum he had gained only a short distance into the second set. With Nadal misfiring and marginally distracted, the Latvian might have broken serve in the second game. But Nadal hung on and then broke serve in the third game and again in the fifth. It was not really until the third set that Gulbis again found the opportunity to impose himself to the extent that he had in the first. He matched Nadal for the duration of it and the French Open champion needed a tie-break to go ahead on sets.

Even in the fourth set, which Nadal won with a single break of serve in the eighth game, Gulbis was always in touch. When he could go in hard and get the job done quickly, he prospered. But most rallies of any duration in this match were won by Nadal and, in the end, it was his speed around the place, allied to his belligerent levels of tenacity, that separated him.

In the Wimbledon of the overt fashion statement, of men in cardigans and women in warm-up trenchcoats, Nadal sticks solidly with that white muscle shirt and baggy pants combo, adding the extra feature of matching wristbands and leg straps. True, he has been busting this short-order chef look for a number of years. But hand him some credit for persisting with it in the face of a broad indifference, elsewhere among the men's game, to its charms. Long may he continue to go sleeveless in a doggedly sleeved world.

Incidentally, here is your cut-out-and-keep list of Latvian men who have contested a grand-slam tournament: Ernests Gulbis, er ... that's it. Only 19, too. Whisper it, but it kind of puts the whole Chris Eaton thing into perspective, doesn't it?