as he endeared himself to the Bermuda public with an impressive 6-2, 6-1 victory over Germany's Alexander Popp on centre court.

And even when a fan told him afterwards he needs to "hit the ball harder'', Ilie saw the humour in it, having disposed of the 6ft-7 Popp in less than an hour with powerful serving and blistering shots around the court.

"It's just good to go out there and hit fairly close to what I wanted to,'' said Ilie who is through to the quarter-finals where he will meet Argentina's Agustin Calleri.

Ilie won with deuce in the first and second games on his way to a quick 3-0 lead as Popp recognised the power of his opponent. Popp came back to 1-3 and then 2-4 before another deuce gave Ilie a 5-2 lead.

"I was 15-40 down in the first game and I just needed to break a sweat,'' said a sweaty Ilie afterwards.

"Once I broke a sweat and got going it was good to break him at 1-0 and just run through with the first set.'' The second set was even quicker as the Romania-born Ilie took just 50 minutes in total to finish off Popp who looked a beaten man at 3-0 in the second.

Serving at 5-0 to keep the match alive, Popp won his only game in the second set to love, but Ilie won the next game to seal the win.

"It was good to get ahead early in the second and finish it off,'' Ilie said.

"His backhand is pretty good and I was trying to put a bit of pressure on his backhand, move him around a little bit. He played well, I just played a little better than him on the day. He's a really talented player.'' Ilie isn't looking any further ahead than his quarter-final match.

"It's just one match at a time,'' he insisted. "I'm playing well and hopefully I can finish the week off well.'' Certainly he won't mind getting the crowd behind him in the later rounds.

"I hope so. I just hope everybody gets a lot of enjoyment out of watching every one of us guys play,'' said the just-turned 24-year-old.