Andy Murray heralded in the changing of the guard in British tennis when he upset sixth seed Tim Henman 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 in the first round of the Swiss Indoors on Wednesday.
Henman was the only seeded player to exit Basel on Wednesday, with Argentine top seeds Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian booking their places in the second round.
The 18-year-old Murray, ranked 70th in the world after soaring up from 357th place in June, was already being hailed as the future of British tennis.
In his first competitive meeting with Henman, he lived up to that billing.
"That was definitely the biggest win of my career," Murray said.
"Tim has been one of the best or most consistent players of the last decade and to win against someone I have so much respect for is a pretty good deal for me and also something that's very special emotionally."
Murray raced into a 4-0 lead in the opening set against an out-of-sorts Henman.
Serving for the set, Murray came back from 0-30 to win it with an ace after 36 minutes.
The 18-year-old Scot, ranked 70 in the world, kept up the pressure against an opponent 13 years his senior in the second set.
After coming back from 3-1 down, Murray served for the match at 5-4 but his nerves let him down.
TAMELY HIT
Showing his greater experience, Henman recovered to win three successive games and the set when the Scot tamely hit a backhand into the net.
The pair remained deadlocked in a high-quality third set until Murray unleashed a series of crunching winners in the tiebreak to clinch it 7-4 for a memorable victory.
Nalbandian overcame Croatia's Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 7-6 while Coria dispatched Spain's Alberto Martin 6-2, 6-4.
"I'm feeling quite tired even though I didn't play in Madrid last week," Coria said. "So it was just important to get through the first round.
"It's an extra motivation being the top seed here," added Coria following his promotion after late withdrawals by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
"But there are still lots of great players in the draw like Juan Carlos Ferrero and Dominik Hrbaty who are also capable of winning here."
Coria is due to face Belgian qualifier Kristof Vliegen in the second round while Nalbandian meets Germany's Florian Mayer.
Defending champion and seventh seed Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic also progressed after winning two tiebreaks against Swiss wildcard and world number 225 Michael Lammer.
