Davis Cup captain Roger Taylor has urged Tim Henman to take advantage of his best-ever chance to win Wimbledon.

Henman was today facing Switzerland's Roger Federer in the quarter-finals on Centre Court after the Swiss teenager's shock victory over seven-time champion Pete Sampras in the fourth round.

Tim Henman

And Taylor believes that has given Oxfordshire's British No 1 a wonderful opportunity to become the first home winner at the All-England Club in 65 years.

"I think with Sampras out, I would feel this is his best opportunity," said Taylor, who reached the semi-finals here in 1973, the last Briton to do so before Henman in 1998.

"Sampras was always going to be tough to beat for him from a psychological point of view.

"Now it's up to Tim to take advantage of that."

Henman, who came back from two sets to one down to beat Todd Martin 6-3, 6-2 when their match resumed yesterday, was quick to dismiss suggestions that he would have things easy in the last eight.

"It's a hell of a result for Federer to beat Sampras," said the 26-year-old sixth seed, from Weston-on-the-Green.

"I'd be stupid to think this is going to be some type of easy match for me because he's probably playing as well, if not better, than anyone else.

"Again, it will probably boil down to who plays best on the day. Hopefully if I can get the crowd fired up and get them behind me then that will put a little extra pressure on him."

A win for Henman would set up a semi-final against Marat Safin or Goran Ivanisevic.

In the other half, Andre Agassi, who has not dropped a set in reaching the last eight, faces surprise package Nicolas Escude, while Pat Rafter takes on Sweden's Thomas Enqvist.

In yesterday's women's singles, Jennifer Capriati stayed on course for the Grand Slam with a three-set victory over Serena Williams, to set up a semi-final against Belgium's Justine Henin, who crushed former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez 6-1, 6-0 in an embarrassingly one-sided quarter-final.

Champion Venus Williams, who beat Nathalie Tauziat in two sets, faces Lindsay Davenport, a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Kim Clijsters, in the other semi-final.

Read more on Henman and find the latest scores on our specialHenman pages