TENNIS: Tennis-British wildcard Fery beats Cobolli to reach Wimbldedon semis

Britain’s Arthur Fery continued his remarkable Wimbledon campaign on Wednesday, becoming only the fourth wildcard in the Open Era to reach the men’s singles semi-finals at a Grand Slam after defeating Italy’s ninth seed Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-0.

Born in France to French parents, Fery grew up just five minutes from the All England Club and entered Wimbledon ranked No. 114 in the world. Despite being relatively unknown to the wider British public before the tournament, the 23-year-old has quickly captured the nation’s attention with his impressive run.

Cobolli, the French Open runner-up and the highest-ranked opponent Fery has faced, struggled to match the Briton’s intensity on a hot day at Centre Court. Fery delivered another fearless performance to secure the biggest victory of his career.

With the win, Fery became only the fifth British man in the professional era to reach the Wimbledon men’s singles semi-finals, joining Andy Murray, Tim Henman, Roger Taylor and Cameron Norrie.

Cobolli had the first opportunity to take control of the match but failed to convert a break point at 3-3 in the opening set. Serving at 4-5, the Italian faltered under pressure, committing a double fault before sending a forehand wide to hand Fery the first set.

Fery briefly lost momentum after dropping serve early in the second set but quickly recovered. He dominated the tiebreak, capitalizing on Cobolli’s increasing number of unforced errors to move closer to the semi-finals.

Despite already spending 14 hours on court to reach the quarter-finals, including two demanding five-set victories in the previous rounds, Fery showed no signs of fatigue in the scorching heat. He broke Cobolli’s serve at the start of the third set and continued applying pressure.

The Briton displayed remarkable composure by saving break points in the following game, ending Cobolli’s final chance of a comeback. The Italian eventually struggled to handle Fery’s relentless pace and intensity.

Fery sealed the victory with an ace, becoming the lowest-ranked player to reach the Wimbledon men’s singles semi-finals since No. 125 seed Goran Ivanisevic won the title in 2001.

The only other men’s wildcard players to reach a Grand Slam semi-final are Jimmy Connors at the 1991 U.S. Open and Henri Leconte at the 1992 French Open.

-Reporting by Martyn Herman, Editing by Pritha Sarkar/Reuters