Arthur Fery has continued his sensational run at Wimbledon by stunning Flavio Cobolli to become the lowest-ranked player for a quarter of a century to reach the semi-finals.
After coming through two gut-busting five-set encounters earlier in the tournament, Fery pulled off an inspired 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-0 win over Cobolli, whom he has now beaten in two out of the last three Grand Slams played. His other triumph was in the first round of the Australian Open.
It is undoubtedly the biggest win in Fery’s career, who had only reached one Tour-level quarter-final coming into SW19. At 114th in the world, the last male player to reach the last four at a lower ranking than him was Nick Kyrgios in 2014.
In contrast, Cobolli is left wondering what could have been. At times, he came undone by some costly errors, but many of those were triggered by the playing style of his rival, who used his slice effectively to soak up his power.
“It just seems to get better and better every, every match,” Fery said of his milestone win.
“I just can’t believe it. It was incredible playing on centre for the second time, get my second win. I just can’t believe it.
“I played Flavio earlier this year and I beat him in Australia, which was a boost of confidence. I knew that I could do it, even though it was my first time in the quarter-finals (of a Grand Slam) and he’s done it before.
“I was very nervous beforehand, and then just kept going until the finish.”
It wasn’t until 34 minutes into the clash that Fery drew blood from the Italian ninth seed. Cobolli was tentative behind his serve, which was worsened by a series of let calls against him. A backhand slice into the net, followed by a double fault from the Italian, handed the home favourite a set point, prompting a huge cheer on Centre Court. Then another Cobolli mistake, this time from his forehand side, secured Fery’s 6-4 lead.
The next test came early in the second frame with Fery getting broken to love before going behind 0-2. He overcame the deficit with the use of some sublime defensive play at the net, as well as more mistakes from across the court, to hit back by winning three games in a row. The underdog next struck in the tiebreaker in which a Cobolli mistake early on elevated him to a series of set points. A delicate drop shot, that his rival returned out, secured him the two-set lead.
Closing in on a win that will move him inside the top 50 (36th to be exact) on the ATP live rankings, Fery showed little indication of being nervous. He was fully in control and made the current French Open runner-up look extremely perplexed about what to do.
“In that last game I felt emotions that I hadn’t experienced before in my life,” Fery reflected.
Fery will next take on second seed Alexander Zverev, who defeated Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Like the Brit, later this week will also be his first time he plays a Wimbledon semi-final.
“I don’t know. I never experienced this before,” Fery replied when asked how he is going to prepare.
“This is gonna be the first time, and we’ll figure it out as we go. I’m just gonna keep going. “I’ve been doing a great job for the past 10 days, and just gonna do the same thing, and see what that takes me.”
Fery is the first wild card to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals since Goran Ivanisevic in 2001, when he won the title.
