IT was the day two eras in British tennis collided as Tim Henman made a sad early exit from Wimbledon and Andy Murray took his place as the great new British hope.

Henman failed to reach the second week of Wimbledon for the first time in a decade and, for many, it was the beginning of the end.

But despondent British tennis fans soon found a replacement hero in the teenage form of Andy Murray, who pulled off a stunning second-round victory on the biggest stage of his life.

The 18-year-old from Dunblane filled the Henman void by beating 14th seed Radek Stepanek 6-4 6-4 6-4 in one of the most astonishing feats in British tennis history.

It was only Murray's second Wimbledon senior match and his first time on Court One.

The teenager said: ''I didn't really expect to win at all, he's a lot better than me - he's top 20 in the world."

Now Murray is hoping his next match on Saturday will be on Centre Court: "I'd really love to play there, it would be a dream,'' he said.

Henman had earlier gone out of the tournament after an epic five-set match with Russian Dmitry Tursunov on Centre Court.

He apologised last night for a foul-mouthed outburst after his worst Wimbledon performance for a decade.

But he dismissed all thoughts of quitting, saying: "I'll keep trying. Why not? I love what I do. I'm still pretty good at it."