Welcome to the big time, Mr Draper. The Wimbledon mania that was passed from Tim Henman (Henmania) to Andy Murray (Murraymania) is now firmly in the grasp of Jack Draper (suggestions on a postcard, please).

The No.4 seed produced a statement performance before his opponent was forced to retire with injury. Before the match was brought to a premature halt, he had not just been beating Sebastian Baez, the world No.38, he had been flattening him, 6-2, 6-2, 2-1 (RET). At times, he bullied the man from Argentina; at times, he toyed with him. But never did he give him so much as a sniff of a chance. 

“I wanted to play a bit longer, in all honesty,” Draper said. “I was feeling like I was getting my tennis together a little bit. I was serving well – off the ground I could have been a bit cleaner – but obviously it’s no way to win like that and I wish Sebastian the best of recoveries. 

“I don’t think about [the pressure] until people just mention it every five minutes. I just try and focus on the things I can control – that’s what I’ve always tried to do. You can’t think about that sort of stuff. You’ve just got to come out here, give my very best, make sure I do all the right things to play the best tennis I can and let’s see. I’m really looking forward to this next week or so.” 

Before The Championships began, he told a small group of British newspaper reporters that he was ready to “lift the nation”. After Tuesday evening’s efforts, he can consider the nation’s spirits well and truly hoisted. He was awfully good and Baez was never allowed to be a threat.

On paper, it did not look good for Baez. He has never gone beyond the second round here (then again, neither has Draper) and he has won only three matches on grass in his life. Worse still, he arrived in SW19 not having won a match on any surface since April – he brought a six-match losing streak with him. Hardly surprising, then, that he did not bother with a warm-up event on grass.

Then there was the small matter of trying to beat a player in the world’s top five: 12 times he had tried and 12 times he had failed. And after 17 minutes on No.1 Court, this did look like being lucky 13th. By that stage, Draper was already two breaks to the good and cruising. After 26 minutes, the first set belonged to the world No.4. 

To say that Draper was head and shoulders above Baez was putting it mildly. Britain’s finest stands 6ft 4in (193cm); Baez is 5ft 7in (170cm).

Draper’s fastest first and second serves were clocking 136mph and 126mph – a good 20mph and 10mph faster, respectively, than his rival’s. Then there was the sheer weight of every shot: if Draper got the opportunity to welt that forehand, he took it and Baez could only watch it fizz into a part of the court where he wasn’t.

But never forget that Baez was the world No.18 last summer. This year, he won the silverware in Rio de Janeiro and reached the final in Santiago and Bucharest. But those events were all on clay and, even then, once he left Bucharest, the match wins started to dry up. But he knows how to fight, even if fighting against Draper on grass was a thankless task.

The match was decided at the start of the second set when the Argentine slipped, almost did the splits and fell in a heap at the back of the court. He was soon back on his feet but then, already a break down, he called for the trainer to have his right knee treated. After a bit of manipulation and a lot of earnest discussion, he played on. And Draper went back to bossing him about from the back of the court.

When he dropped his serve again at the start of the third set, he threw in the towel. His knee was too sore and he could not carry on.

It had taken just 74 minutes. Even on another fiercely hot day, Draper had barely had time to break much of a sweat, and if he was suffering from any first-match nerves before his challenge began, these two-and-a-bit sets will have settled them nicely.

Marin Cilic is next in line for the No.4 seed and the 36-year-old former finalist will present a completely different challenge. Tall, with a thumping serve and vast experience of playing on this green stuff, he will give Draper plenty to think about. But if Draper were to win that one….

Welcome to the big time, Mr Draper.