It was no way to celebrate a 21st birthday: Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (the birthday boy) was given a grass court lesson by the swift and clever Lorenzo Musetti. The No.25 seed from Italy danced into the quarter-finals 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

Musetti fell flat on his back in relief. He had never reached a Grand Slam quarter-final before and now all his dreams had come true. As he tried to speak afterwards, he struggled. This was his dream and finally it had come true.

“It’s tough for me to get emotional but I think today I think I will. I’ve been dreaming about this moment…” he began before choking up.

He tried again: “Since I was a kid, I always had a really beautiful family that supported me in chasing my dream…” And then he lost it again.

Try again: “I have to thank first of all Simone [Tartarini, his coach]. Without him nothing of this could be possible. And I want to thank my family, my girlfriend Veronica – she’s up there [pointing to the players’ box]…” and then he choked up again.

It was fair to say that Musetti was delighted with what he described as “a phenomenal day for me”.

As he walked out to No.2 Court, Perricard could bolster his confidence (not that he lacks self-belief) with the thought that in the three previous rounds he had won 62 of 63 service games, hit 105 aces, 158 unreturnable first serves, 39 unreturnable second serves and won 224 first serve points. And he says his favourite shot is his forehand. Boys can be contrary at times.

His great pal on tour is countryman Arthur Fils (they train together regularly). When Fils was asked the other day if Perricard was teaching him how to serve, he laughed. Oh, no. The big fella was teaching him how to return – it is the only shot he gets a chance to play when they hit together.

For two young men (Musetti is only 22), they are charmingly old fashioned: they both have single-handed backhands, a real rarity these days. It is just that Musetti’s is considerably closer to the ground than Perricard’s. The Italian stands a very respectable 6ft 1ins tall; the Frenchman is 6ft 8ins. He is huge which makes his serve all the more terrifying.

It was no wonder, then, that Musetti looked furious when he dropped serve in the opening set. A succession of forehand fluffs had cost him dear and now he had to find a way to break the French serve. That was going to be like trying to stop a steam train armed with no more than a feather duster and a bag of crisps.

If Musetti could get the serve back and should a rally actually follow, he stood a chance of winning the point. But it was just getting that first delivery back in play. Patience was the key so, knuckling down after the disappointment of losing the first set, he stuck to his master plan.

The simple fact was that Musetti had more court craft than his rival. The finalist at Queen’s Club a few weeks ago and the semi-finalist in Stuttgart before that, he knows his way around a grass court.

Perricard is powerful and he is not afraid to come forward if he has to (although, to be fair, with that serve, he seldom has to). But he does not move as well as the nimble, fleet-footed Musetti (few do), nor is he as experienced – and that was not a good combo for the Frenchman.

Musetti got his reward at the end of the second set: as Perricard’s forehand began to fray at the edges, the Italian broke and let out an almighty roar. The set was soon to be his. Another scream of delight signalled another break at the start of the third set – Musetti was taking charge.

Suddenly, Perricard was deflating before our eyes. All the confidence was dissipating and he looked glum. His serve was still huge but it was not as consistent while Musetti had learned to keep the ball away from the Frenchman’s forehand (a sledgehammer of a shot) and was picking on the far more wayward backhand wing.

The matches were beginning to catch up with Perricard; three rounds of qualifying and his fifth outing in the main draw were weighing heavy. As the rain clouds hovered above, he was trying to leather any ball that came his way to keep the points short. Musetti, meanwhile, was in his element.

Breaking his tall rival at the start of the fourth set, he kept his own serve under lock and key. A place in the last eight was his after two hours and three minutes and the tears were about to flow.

Perricard was left to trudge back to the locker room, there to pack his bags. It was no way to celebrate a 21st birthday.