Roddick won the hearts of the Centre Court crowd with his 7-6 (7-1) 6-1 4-6 7-6 (7-3) victory.

Pete Sampras has already tipped Roddick as the next big US star, to the extent that he is not offering him any advice in case it rebounds on him.

And with his trademark look, with baseball cap worn reversed in the style of rap musicians, and emotional outpourings on court he is already become something of a household name.

He faces Goran Ivanisevic, the 29-year-old Croatian, in the third round and is bemused by suddenly coming up against such famous players.

He said: ‘‘It’s great. I played Michael Chang at Roland Garros and now Goran at Wimbledon, I’m really looking forward to it.

‘‘One of my favourite matches of all time is when Andre Agassi beat him in the final.

‘‘I was not even expecting to be on Centre Court - I was looking down the list at all the other courts but I definitely felt some support out there. It was a great atmosphere.’’

Johansson had won back-to-back tournaments in Halle and Nottingham, so for Roddick to beat him in four sets is a good indication of his potential.

Looking beyond Ivanisevic, a possible fourth-round against Greg Rusedski or Juan Carlos Ferrero is looming.

Ferrero, very much an unknown quantity on grass, beat Australian Jason Stoltenberg in five sets, 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-3.

Ivanisevic lost a first set tie-break before defeating former world number one Carlos Moya of Spain 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 6-4 6-4.

The Croatian too is relishing Friday’s match. He said: ‘‘He’s a great kid and a great player. He’s going to be the future of tennis.

‘‘He hits huge serves and has a huge forehand. I have a chance though, I’m more experienced on grass. This is his first Wimbledon and I see my chances there.’’

Meanwhile, Russian fourth seed Marat Safin, who has never felt particularly at home on grass, avoided a potentially tough battle when his opponent Daniel Nestor retired hurt.

The Canadian, who lost to Sampras in the fourth round in 1999, was leading 2-1 in the third set it was one set all when he suffered an injury to his left ankle and was forced to quit.

Safin had edged through the first set on a tie-break but lost the second 6-3 and was facing a real test of his grass-court credentials.

The Russian said was full of praise for his opponent - but was more than happy to benefit from his misfortune.

Safin said: ‘‘He played unbelievable tennis for 15 minutes I couldn’t do anything against it.

‘‘This is why I’m happy he retired because otherwise it would have been a very big problem to beat him.’’

Unseeded Swede Magnus Larsson beat USA’s Chris Woodruff in straight sets while others to reach the third round were Swiss 15th seed Roger Federer, Armenian Sargis Sargsian, France’s Arnaud Clement and Holland’s Raemon Sluiter.