Roger Federer beat Jay Clarke in three sets and then described how he recently played with another British youngster – Prince George.
The Duchess of Cambridge watched Federer at Wimbledon on Tuesday and then revealed that not only is the Swiss superstar her son's favourite player, but that the five-year-old has hit balls with tennis royalty.
Following his 6-1 7-6 (3) 6-2 victory over 20-year-old Clarke, eight-time winner Federer said: "At that stage it's all about just touching the ball, it's the same with my boys.
"I think I have a little advantage that I actually spent some time with him. So maybe I'm the only player he's ever met. Then you have a little head start into who is your favourite player.
"He's a cute boy. I love to see that they're into tennis or into sport. His mum has always enjoyed tennis.
"I hope that he'll still say the same in a few years' time and this is not just an in-the-moment situation that he said 'oh, he's a good guy'."
Clarke will have taken hope from the fact Federer, who is 17 years older than him, dropped a set in his first-round match against Lloyd Harris.
However, Federer was not going to make the same mistake twice and breezed into a 3-0 lead, although Clarke did briefly respond.
He held serve and hit back to force two break points in the next, but that fired Federer up and he won the game before reeling off the next two to claim the opening set.
Clarke refused to let his head drop and responded in confident fashion with the crowd behind him in the second set, which went with serve to the tie-break, and Federer used all his experience to win it.
The end was near when Federer took a 3-0 advantage in the third and, although Clarke held serve a couple more times, the 20-time grand-slam champion eased to victory.
On Clarke's performance, Federer said: "I sensed he was a bit nervous in the beginning with his double-faults in the first game, that he served two or three double-faults.
"Then in the second set, I think he did very well to stay with me. Every time he got a little bit close on his service games, he was able to produce something special.
"But, you know, I liked what I saw in Jay. I mean, I still think playing on grass, I don't know if it's his favourite surface or not, it seems like he doesn't mind longer, extended rallies, so maybe grass is not his maybe number one surface.
"I hope he keeps working hard and results will show how good he is."
