He sauntered on to court looking like a cross between Cristiano Ronaldo and Elvis. The Spain flags fluttered and a few girls screamed. Fernando Verdasco might be the second-best player in Spain but he is the best Spaniard at Wimbledon and his extremely intense second-round victory over Kristof Vliegen took him yet another step away from the shadow of Rafael Nadal.

That Verdasco is more than just an understudy to the reigning, but injured and therefore absent, Wimbledon champion was underlined at the Australian Open, where he faced his compatriot in the semi-final. Their five-set epic had the pundits gushing and, although Nadal won, Verdasco more than simply troubled the world No1, delivering, over the course of 5 hours, 21 aces and 95 winners.

The real turning point for Verdasco came, arguably, two months earlier, in November, when the headlines proclaimed: “Verdasco wins Davis Cup for Spain.” Not Nadal, not David Ferrer - who was dropped - it was Verdasco who took on José Acasuso, of Argentina, in the final match of the tournament.

Verdasco is the No 7 seed at Wimbledon and possesses the serve, tenacity and, crucially, temperament to last the distance. Out on the rather intimate atmosphere of No 3 court, he needed them all. His opponent, ranked No 82 in the world, produced an incredible performance, matching Verdasco winner for winner. The shock of the championships so far has to be that the fourth set witnessed the break of serve that gave Verdasco his 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 victory. Rarely has there been a match in which tie-breaks have seemed more preordained.

The recurring theme of the contest was the way that the server would lose several points and not become flustered. It would have been highly inappropriate had Vliegen been broken courtesy of some shoddy service deliveries.

Instead, Verdasco applied some extra brilliance and a taste of the Belgian's own medicine by setting up match point with the sort of drop shot that had been so successful for his 27-year-old opponent. Vliegen was given his own ovation, not just because he had held his own but for his dashes of flair. One of his drop shots was so well disguised that even though the Spaniard was at the net, he could not read it.

Verdasco, like Nadal, is left-handed and, like Nadal, mesmerises with his top spin. He is less flamboyant, though. A cursory glance at Verdasco would leave you with the impression that he is too cool to chase lost causes. In fact, the 25-year-old from Madrid has perfected the art of making scampering look slick. He will dash to the net and then back to the baseline, and back to the net again if necessary, and then casually run his fingers through his hair - which thankfully no longer boasts the Ronaldo spike-and-gel look.

Strange to report of a man of his age, but Verdasco is still learning. He is not a player of whom anyone could state confidently that his peak has seen him fail to claim a grand-slam title. It may turn out that he performed as well in Australia as he ever will, but he speaks like a player still on an upward career curve.

Indeed, he seems young enough for a rumour to have emerged that he telephoned Laura Robson, the 15-year-old British player, to console her on her defeat on Monday. Fortunately, perhaps, Verdasco has absolutely no idea where that notion could have come from.

He said that he was not at all surprised by the adroitness of his opponent. Vliegen arrived looking a bit of a geek, but grew quickly in stature until he had the air of an assassin. All he needs is a pair of wristbands; that way he would not have to wipe his face with a towel every other point while his opponent appeared to have an air-conditioning unit attached to his neck.

If Verdasco is to repeat his success in Australia, he will need somehow to brush past Roger Federer in the quarter-finals first.

“He's so complete about everything; serve, forehand, volley, touch, slice,” Verdasco said of the Swiss. “If I reach the quarter-finals against him, I need to play my best tennis.”

Verdasco has no intention, though, of letting his status as Spain's great hope at these championships add to the pressure. “I don't think about if I'm the first or second or whatever of Spain,” he said.