The Americans call it a “live arm” – a player who can serve aces at will and can vary his delivery to confound his opponent. Ben Shelton has a live arm and he used it with ruthless efficiency to reach the fourth round. He beat Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-2 and now faces Lorenzo Sonego on Monday.

Newly welcomed into the world’s top 10, he celebrated his arrival with the sort of performance that suggests he has big plans for the coming week. His serve is simply outstanding, his athleticism is impressive and his forehand is terrifying. His only weakness would appear to be the imminent departure of his sister, Emma, so he put out an appeal to the No.1 Court crowd.

“I had a lot of fun,” he said. “I’ve been playing well this week but it’s not just me. I have a great team. My parents are here, my girlfriend is here, also my sister’s here. She’s been here for every match I’ve played at this tournament so far. She’s been the lucky charm. But she has work back in the US starting on Monday. She works for Morgan Stanley, so if of any of you all have some connects and can get her a couple of extra days off so we can keep this rolling, that’d be great.”

Both men had been working overtime shifts to get to No.1 Court, coming in on Friday to complete their second round matches. Shelton bounded on to No.2 Court and took 55 seconds to thump down four huge serves to conclude his meeting with Rinky Hijikata.

Fucsovics, though, had a fifth set to play with Gael Monfils and that took him 40 minutes. He has also played a lot of tennis in the past two weeks. He was top seed in Qualifying competition but lost in the final round. But when Borna Coric withdrew, Fucsovics moved in as a lucky loser. And now he was playing for a place in the fourth round.

The game plan seemed fairly simple: try to block back the massive Shelton serve and keep the ball away from the American’s forehand. But it was easier said than done.

Shelton won the toss and chose to serve. No surprises there. He then opened the match with a 145mph serve down the middle and added an ace at 146mph and a service winner at 147mph. He had, as they say, set out his stall.

Fucsovics was not shy of showing off his serving prowess, either. His fastest delivery was a good 20mph slower than Shelton’s but it was accurate. He picked his spots and hit them time and again. Save for one game in the first set – the Hungarian was broken to go 1-3 down – both men were keeping their service games under lock and key. No dramas, no problems.

Shelton’s forehand was more problematic. No matter how hard he tried, Fucsovics could not keep his foe pinned to the backhand side. Shelton is such a great athlete that he was able to run around to play the forehand, no matter where Fucsovics put the ball. And, anyway, his backhand is not to be taken lightly.

By the second set tie-break, the two men were locked together and it was a matter of who would blink first. That man was Fucsovics, who was left flapping his racket after a fizzing forehand cross-court passing shot. When Shelton closed out the set, his roar of celebration could be heard in Southfields.

The damage had been done. Fucsovics is a supremely fit man, but he is 11 years older and he had played two five-setters. When Shelton ran him ragged to breakand take a 2-0 lead at the start of the third set, Fucsovics was doubled over at the back of the court to catch his breath.

Apart from making a mess of serving for the match at 5-1, Shelton could not have been happier. And he knows all about Sonego, his next opponent.

“He’s a great player,” Shelton said. “I played him tight in Australia this year; I played him tight in Roland-Garros – it’s only fitting that we play here in Wimbledon. It’ll be a tough one. He’s playing great and the grass is a good surface for him. Big serve, big forehand, high energy.

"It’ll be difficult but I like my chances right now and the way that I’m playing. The way that the crowd is helping with the energy, we’re going to keep this thing rolling.”