DON'T be surprised if John Major springs an election on the British people this afternoon. It's very short notice but there's been some talk over here that sporting success helps to cheer people up about the way their country is being run. And let's face it, on that basis, the Conservatives could do worse than have the polling stations open this evening until kickoff time at Wembley.

As if the football wasn't going well enough for the hosts, there was plenty for them to cheer about at Wimbledon yesterday with Tim Henman adding the name of Yevgeny Kafelnikov to the growing list of male seeds available for commentary work, while wins for Greg Rusedski, Danny Sapsford and Luke Milligan meant that seven British men had made it into the second round of the singles. Apparently it's enough to make your average Londoner forget they'd ever heard of negative equity.

All of the local players performances were, at the very least, solid but Henman's against the Russian who only a few short weeks ago was crowned the French Open champion, was little short of superb. The 21 year old from Oxford showed wonderful attacking skills in the early sets when he appeared likely to run out an easy winner and then tremendous nerve to squeeze a narrow victory out of a situation that seemed to have been lost.

The Englishman hardly came to the Centre Court with the sort of record that ought to have frightened the fifth seed but, having rebuilt his serve over the past year and greatly added to his reservoir of self confidence, he wasn't long about forcing Kafelnikov to start taking him seriously.

Fanatically cheered on by a packed house, Henman broke his opponent in the very first game and, although he quickly had the initiative seized back from him when the Russian scored a break of his own in the fourth game, the pair weren't separated by more than a game through the rest of a set which was eventually decided by a tie break.

In it the 22 year old world number five had no fewer than three set points but, 6-3 down and looking likely to fold if the first set slipped away, Henman held his serve twice and broke once, thanks to a brilliant backhand pass down the line to draw level.

He completed the run with the next two points to take the set and, buoyed by his success, motored relatively trouble free through the second, picking up the only break at the first attempt and winning 6-3 to set himself up for victory.

Kalefnikov, however, had other ideas and, having this time taken little time to convert his superiority in another tie break into a 7-2 score line, he saved three break points at 3-4 down in a tightly contested fourth set before breaking to 15 himself and then serving solidly to level the match.

By that point the Russian looked to have gotten himself back into the driving seat in the then two hour long contest and with his famous service return now operating at close to full steam and his opponent showing the effects of only his second ever venture into the fifth set of a match.

Remarkably, though, while his opponent's backhand was always dangerous whenever the Englishman moved in towards the net, Henman repeatedly punished Kalefnikov's own forays with an inch perfect forehand that yielded more than two dozen clear winners.

Most impressive, though, was that serve with the local favourite throwing out 21 aces, many of which came when his back was very much to the wall. Certainly none were more important than the pair he produced at 15-40 behind in the ninth game of the deciding set for they kept him in the match and in a contest that had seemed to contain several turning points.

The Russian never recovered from the opportunity lost and for the 13,000 local fans watching the last three games, in which Henman broke his opponent, twice, it was sheer delight.

Today there is the added bonus that if Henman, who is ranked 62 himself and who only scored his first win over a top 20 player last week when he beat Malivai Washington, does go out it will be to fellow Briton Danny Sapsford while in the other half of the draw either Mark Petchey or Chris Wilkinson are also sure to give the locals something to cheer about in the third round.

For Kafelnikov, though, there is only the doubles where he must try to justify hiring "a huge house" for the duration of the tournament and bury himself in his work after his most disappointing day ever in a Grand Slam. "I'm not that disappointed with the way I played but I am disappointed that I have gone out in the first round of a Grand Slam because that has never happened me before.

"It's a pity because I wanted to prove that I belong in the top 10 players on grass, not just clay courts but that must wait now, he added before mentioning that his exit was not, repeat not in any way connected with a knee problem he's been having for a while.

In fact, he managed quite a little debate with himself about the extent to which the injury had not hampered him and only when he was finally led away, still keenly playing down his own suggestion, was the victor brought in.

Hen man's verdict on the day's work If I did that a bit more often I might be a pretty good player." That's right Tim, if you keep bumping off the best in the world you'll be a pretty good player alright and the British Labour party might as well pack general elections in altogether and find themselves another business.

. As the men's doubles gets into full swing at Wimbledon today, Dubliner Owen Casey's wait to discover if he will receive a place in the starting line up should come to an end.

Casey, along with Austrian partner Georg Blumauer, lost out in straight sets in the final round of qualifying to Massimo Ardinghi and Nicola Bruno of Italy last week but under the "lucky loser" system they may get a reprieve if another pairing drops out.

Under the scheme those making their exits in the last round of qualifying are queued according to world ranking and called upon to fill any vacancies in the main draw which might arise.

The upshot has been that Casey has been forced to stay on in London but, with a couple of withdrawals from the singles by players who are scheduled to play in the doubles, he and Blumauer, stand a reasonable chance.