It is a nice problem to have: Oliver Tarvet has £99,000 to spend. And spend quite quickly.

The world No.733 (his career high is No.624) turned the form book upside down by beating Leandro Riedi, the No.503 (career high No.117) from Switzerland, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Both men came through the Qualifying competition and both were vying for the chance to play Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday.

So far, so normal.

Except that Tarvet is the lowest-ranked man in the draw by some considerable margin. He is also the first British man in eight years to qualify for the main draw. And, as a student at the University of San Diego, he is an amateur, a status he is desperate to retain in order to continue his stay in the United States collegiate tennis system. Which is where that nice problem kicks in.

To fulfil the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) criteria, he must not earn more than $10,000 during the calendar year. If he is no longer amateur, he cannot play college tennis in the US. And now he has a pretty $134,000 coming to him for reaching the second round. What to do?

“By December, I need to show that [my] profit or prize money minus expenses equals less than $10,000,” he said. “I don't know how much I made. I think I made, like, it's £99,000 or £100,000. Obviously, that's before tax. I've got to find £60,000, £70,000 of expenses. Tennis is an expensive sport. So, hopefully, I can make that happen. As I said, just pay my coaches a little bit extra. I don't know. We'll figure something out. Fly business class!”

It is all legal and above board if he does rack up enough legitimate expenses to bring his profits down – and he was joking about living the high life for the next few months. Tarvet is a very sensible 21-year-old (he hails from St Albans) and the experience he is gaining at college in San Diego means more to him than a few extra bucks.

“Maybe I hire someone to help me out with the expenses, make sure the NCAA are happy,” he said. “As I said, it's very important for me. I have a lot of goals at USD still.”

But all of that was merely practicalities; Tarvet was still revelling in winning his first Tour-level match and looking forward to playing the mighty Alcaraz. This was fairytale stuff.

“As a kid, it's what you dream of,” he said. “I came here when I was a little kid. It's what you work for. Obviously, it's a pretty long-term goal. But for it to happen so suddenly has been really special.

“I'm quietly confident that I can win against anyone. Alcaraz isn't an exception to that. Obviously, he's done an incredible amount in the tennis world. He's a difficult guy not to respect.”

But respecting your opponent does not mean feeling inferior. Coming to Wimbledon on Monday, he was excited but he was not overawed. He still had a job to do – and he did it well. He did not face a break point against Riedi, while his fastest first serve came in at 134mph. Clearly, he does not hold much back. Riedi described his rival as “a wall”. We wait to see what Alcaraz’s assessment will be.

All in all, it was a good day for the British men. Six of them started the day with high hopes and four finished it with even higher hopes. Cameron Norrie needed four sets to get past Roberto Bautista Agut, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 7-6(3) and now plays Frances Tiafoe, while the Court 15 crowd cheered on Arthur Fery as he beat the No.20 seed, Alexei Popyrin.

Fery’s father, Loic, is French and is president of the football club FC Lorient; his mother, Olivia, was a professional tennis player and represented Hong Kong in the Fed Cup. Arthur was born in Sevres, went to high school in Wimbledon and then enrolled at college in the United States. As one wag in the press room put it: Arthur is very much a cross-channel Fery.

Billy Harris sped past Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and now plays Nuno Borges of Portugal, who beat the No.16 seed Francisco Cerundolo. But Oliver Crawford and Jacob Fearnley were heading home after they lost to Mattia Bellucci and Joao Fonseca respectively.