At the risk of being hauled over the coals for mentioning the dreaded ‘P-word’ (that would be politics), France is most definitely in and Britain is out: Richard Gasquet, France’s highest ranked player, is safely into the second round of the Gentlemen’s singles and Aljaz Bedene, Britain’s second best player, isn’t.

Gasquet beat Bedene 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 with a solid, confident and seemingly effortless display on Court No.3. He was very, very good and Bedene could not touch him.

France has been waiting for Gasquet to bring home a Grand Slam trophy for the past 21 years, ever since he was put on the front cover of France’s Tennis Magazine and tipped as the next great star. He was just nine years old at the time and it was an awful lot of pressure to heap on the slight shoulders of one so young. Unsurprisingly, he struggled to live up to the hype for many a long year but now, a mature man of 30, he is a freer spirit.

Coached by Sergi Bruguera, twice a French Open champion, Gasquet reached his first quarter-final at Roland Garros just over three weeks ago. That was a breakthrough: in a lifetime of trying, he had never made a dent in the second week there as, like many a French player before him, he found the weight of national expectation too heavy a burden to bear.

But it is at Wimbledon that the world No.10 has had his greatest Grand Slam success. He announced himself as contender back in 2007 by reaching the semi-finals and matched that feat with an appearance in the last four last year. Then again, it is easy to see why he does so well on the green stuff: his serve is more than presentable, he knows what he is doing at the net and he has a beautiful backhand (it is lovely to look at but it must be horrible to play against).

So keen is he on having a fresh grip that he had to call for more tape during his quarter-final with Andy Murray in Paris the other week. The umpire warned him that he simply did not have time for such fiddling as a huge box of sticky stuff was delivered to the side of the court. “l be quick,” Gasquet said. And quick he was – in 10 seconds, the old grip had been removed, the new one applied and fixed in position and Gasquet was skipping back to the baseline. The umpire was seriously impressed.

There was not much time for running repairs against Bedene. It took two hours and 13 minutes to get the better of Britain’s No.2 and there was never a moment when Gasquet did not look like winning. Bedene gave it his best shot but it was never quite enough to prevent the inevitable.

Away from the court and when dressed in civvies, there appears to be nothing of Bedene at all. Softly spoken, with a hint of an accent that point to his European roots (he was born in Slovenia but took British citizenship a couple of years ago and actually sounds a little like Stefan Edberg), he does not give the immediate impression of being an on-court warrior.