Swiss tennis fans may have expected some success to celebrate at Wimbledon this year.

But their hopes would most likely have centred on Martina Hingis in the women's singles.

Just as the first round exit of Hingis shocked the tennis world, few could have predicted compatriot Roger Federer would inflict the first defeat upon Pete Sampras at Wimbledon since 1996.

The last man to beat Sampras at the All England Tennis Club was Holland's Richard Krajicek.

He took full advantage by going on to claim the Wimbledon title, but that may be asking a lot of 19-year-old Federer who is yet to claim a title on the ATP Tour.

However, he is not short of self-belief now.

"I think this is going to give me as much confidence as I can get," said Federer. "This is the biggest win in my life.

"Now I play Henman or Martin, and while I've never beaten Henman, I have beaten Martin.

"I have to look match after match but after beating Pete maybe I have a chance."

In fact Federer had never been beyond the fourth round in a Grand Slam event before this year's French Open, but he has enjoyed previous success in south-west London.

He marked himself down as a future Wimbledon star in 1998 when he won the boys' singles event at SW19 following in the footsteps of the likes of Ivan Lendl, Pat Cash and Stefan Edberg.

He also added the doubles that year, but the step up to the big time at Wimbledon has not been an easy one for Federer. In the previous two years he has been knocked out in the first round, but he opened this year with a straight sets win over Belgium's Christophe Rochus.

Another Belgian, Xavier Malisse, took Federer to five sets in the second round, before the Swiss star overcame the number 33 seed Jonas Bjorkman in the third round.

But none of those results suggested what was to come from Federer.

Sampras was gracious in defeat, and very complimentary of his conqueror.

"He (Federer) has a very relaxed demeanour, pretty similar to mine really," said Sampras. "He goes out and plays and does not get too emotional."

But Federer admits that has not always been the case as he frequently threw racquets around in years gone by.

"I was getting kicked out of practice sessions non-stop when I was 16. This year I have been more relaxed and I'm not smashing racquets anymore."

That more relaxed approach is starting to pay dividends.