Arthur Fery will play Alexander Zverev for a place in the Wimbledon final on Friday after the British wildcard kept his remarkable tournament alive with a stunning straight-sets victory over Flavio Cobolli.
Fery, 23, is just the second wildcard to reach the Wimbledon men’s semi-finals, after the 2001 champion Goran Ivanisevic. He arrived at Wimbledon ranked 114th in the world and with just two grand slam victories to his name.
But he became just the fifth British man to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon in the open era, thrashing the ninth seed and French Open runner-up Cobolli 6-4 7-6 (4) 6-0. After he raced towards the finish line, Fery fell to his back and said: “It just gets better and better.”
Up next for Fery, who won a match at this year’s Wimbledon in straight-sets for the first time after battling from behind in his previous four victories, is the second seed Zverev.
The German is through to the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time in his career after ending his long wait for a first grand slam title at last month’s French Open, beating Cobolli in five sets.
Zverev advanced to the semi-finals after beating the sixth seed Taylor Fritz in straight-sets, ending a long losing run against the American.
Defending champion Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic will compete in the other semi-final on the opposite side of the draw.
Fery and Zverev will play in the second semi-final on Friday, after Djokovic continues his bid for a 25th grand slam against Sinner from 1:30pm.
“It just gets better and better every match. I can’t believe it,” Fery said. “It’s incredible, playing on Centre Court for the second time… Just can’t believe it.
“I knew I could do it, even though it was my first time in the quarter-finals and he’s done it before. Just kept going, was very nervous beforehand but kept going to the finish line.
“Definitely was not [calm] on the inside! That last game, I felt emotions that I hadn’t experienced before in my life and I think it’s the same up there [in the box]. It’s unbelievable to share it with those guys, a great bunch of guys, so happy.
“I’ve never been in this position before! I guess we’ll figure it out as we go. I’m just going to keep going, I’ve been doing a great job for the past 10 days, going to do the same thing and see where that takes me.”
