It has been five long years since Andy Murray last reached the fourth round around these parts – and Murray is now long gone from this year’s Wimbledon.

Step forward, then, Cameron Norrie: he is one of two Britons left standing in the men’s singles this year.

After a nervy start, he relaxed into his stride to march past Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 and into that fourth round spot, much to the delight of a distinctly partisan Centre Court crowd.

“It feels really good to do it here at Wimbledon,” he said.

“I definitely enjoyed that match today. I’m really enjoying playing at this level, enjoying the process of it all, and enjoying improving.

“It’s been a lot of fun with my coach, Facu (Facundo Lugones), and my team – we’ve all got the same goals. But I want to keep pushing on and I want to keep ticking all boxes.

“I’m as ready as I can be. I’m training as hard as I can – it’s been a tricky grass season but I’ve peaked at the right time and I’m definitely feeling a lot better on the court. Yeah, I’m as ready as I can be.

Of course, there was a lot riding on the match – it was a third round at Wimbledon for goodness’ sake. But for these two men in particular, there was so much to play for.

Norrie has had an exceptional last 18 months and has scooted up the rankings to No.12 in the world pecking order on the back of winning four trophies in that time.

But infuriatingly he has been unable to replicate that form at the Grand Slams. He was trying to reach the fourth round at a Slam for the first time – and this was his 19th attempt.

Johnson had reached the fourth round here before but that was back in 2016, back before his world started to fall apart.

The extremely popular American was taught to play tennis by his father, Steve Snr. Although he stepped back from coaching duties when Steve Jnr went to college, father and son were extremely close.

As Johnson graduated from a stellar college career and on to the professional Tour, his future looked bright and by 2016, he was the world No.21. But the following year, his father passed away unexpectedly in his sleep at the age of 58.

Johnson kept on playing for the rest of the season but at the start of 2018, he suffered the first of many panic attacks. So severe were these episodes that he did not want to travel; he did not even want to leave the house in case it happened again.

With the help of a psychologist and with a great deal of work, he was able to control the anxiety and manage the occasional episode of panic but it took time.

By the time he felt able to cope, he had lost a couple of years of career progress. Now at the age of 32, he is doing everything in his power to make up for lost time.

Bearing all of that in mind, the fact that large holes had appeared in their section of the draw meant that this was a golden opportunity for both men.

Get to the second week and anything seemed possible.

No wonder, then, that both of them were pacing around the clubhouse like caged tigers as they waited for their call to go on court.

They were so full of nervous energy that had you plugged them into the National Grid, they would have heated a bedsit for a week.

And once on court, they started out as if those nerves had tied their shoelaces together.

Norrie was creating the chances – four break points in his rival’s first three service games – but Johnson was not letting him take them. There was not a whisker between them.

And then Norrie got his chance.

After 41 minutes, he finally broke the American’s serve and the relief was palpable.

The shackles fell away and he could hit freely.

And hit he did.

He broke Johnson’s serve at the start of the second set and then ripped through the rest of it.

Johnson staged one last stand at the start of the third set, battling for more than 12 minutes to hold his serve. He fended off four break points but he could not survive the fifth.

His final shot was called in but Norrie challenged.

Up in the players’ box, Norrie’s mother Helen was anxiously signalling that ball was out and fortunately both Hawk-Eye and the umpire agreed with her. Well, mums always know best.

From there on, Norrie was never troubled.

He sped towards his Sunday appointment with Tommy Paul. The bridge to the second week had been crossed and the No.9 seed was sailing into uncharted waters.

Life does not get much better than this.

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