Tennis/ French Open championship: In February 1996 the French tennis magazine Tennis adorned their cover with the photograph of a nine-year-old boy. It was the first time in the history of the publication that they had put a child on the front.

The question they asked was would this boy be the champion France is waiting for. Yannick Noah was the last French men's singles winner here in 1983.

At that stage the boy had won nothing of note because he was too young to participate in the national championships but his tennis ability was so impressive that the magazine had little hesitation in converting him into their own little "pocket phenom". As it happened they also picked this year, 2005, to be the year for his first seeded position at Roland Garros.

Yesterday Richard Gasquet, the boy in waiting, advanced to the third round of the French Open as the Parisian skies cleared and the pace of tennis quickened. Gasquet, is now 18 years old and along with Amelie Mauresmo has taken ownership of Philippe Chatrier, the most famous clay court in the world.

The right-hander is also one of the hottest players in the game at the moment and is one of only two players in the world to have beaten the world number one Roger Federer this year. Ranked at 152 at the beginning of March, he achieved his seed status seemingly overnight. From a hesitant and occasionally tormented adolescent Gasquet is playing here for the fourth consecutive time but on this occasion with some expectation.

Along with the Spanish teenager Raphael Nadal, the two are considered credible candidates to go deep into next week. The only problem there for one of them is that they meet each other in the next round in what is the match-up of the tournament so far.

But whether Gasquet can deal with the force and breadth of the game of the world number five, who beat Xavier Malisse 6-2, 6-2, 6-4, and also shut out of his mind the constant buzz around court and the charming accented rendition of his first name "Ree-Char Ree-Char" is difficult to predict.

Certainly Gasquet dealt with Wessels, ranked 82, with both ease and, despite a dip in tempo in the tight second set, panache too.

In the mould of Mauresmo he has the stylish one-handed backhand. Impossible to read, Wessels's charging of the net initially pressurised the 2002 Roland Garros junior champion but by the third set he had everything under control, the 27-year-old Dutchman as often watching the ball fizz to the corners as he idly flashed his racquet at the out of reach ball.

"I need to play fantastically if I want to win against Nadal," said Gasquet. "I will need to be extremely focused, to be in very good physical shape. It will have to be the perfect match on my side because otherwise I will not win. But if I lose it's not a drama.

"He's running everywhere, all over the court. He's hitting very hard. He doesn't make any errors. He doesn't give you any points. Some players do but he doesn't. It's zero mistakes. He's got a good mental state and a very good physical state. He is very good, especially on clay."

At the same time as Gasquet was beating Wessels 6-3, 7-6, 6-1, England's Tim Henman was being lanced by Peru's Luis Horna on the court they call the "Bull Ring". In a sense it was the world order being realigned, the prodigies Nadal and Gasquet moving forward, 30-year-old Henman bowing to the years and the surface and the heaped expectations that he brought to Paris after last year's semi-final run.

In recent months Henman has hit out at the media presentation of his career and achievements. His portrayal as a failure for not bagging Wimbledon rather as the best tennis player Britain has produced in decades has a ring of truth.

He also struck a bum diversionary note on Wimbledon's policy on tennis balls. But, true to form, he looked on the positive side of what was a second-round defeat to a player 51 places below him on the world ladder.

"You always want to win but it certainly will give me a chance to prepare for Queens and the grass court season," he declared. "I'm disappointed but at least I know that the next time I step on a court it will be green."

The balls at Wimbledon, which Henman has found increasingly slow and not to his advantage, did some undercover work of his own and discovered that Wimbledon takes delivery of the Slazenger balls unpressurised. They then sit around for a matter of weeks as the air oozes out.

"It's one of the most bizarre things I've ever heard off," said the British number one. "You can imagine. By the time you get through to the second week they look nice and new and then they're basically flat."

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club were yesterday asked for their opinion. They said Henman was talking a load of . . .