LONDON (AP):
If he keeps playing like this, Arthur Fery might just become Wimbledon royalty.
Fery grew up five minutes from the All England Club and now the 114th-ranked player is a semi-finalist at the grass-court Grand Slam.
The 23-year-old British player, who needed a wild-card invitation to enter the tournament, beat ninth-seeded Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-0 on Centre Court in front of roaring home fans and a Royal Box contingent that included Britain’s Queen Camilla yesterday.
His run has been dubbed a ‘Ferytale’ and has included a viewing by Kate, the Princess of Wales, earlier in the tournament.
“It gets better and better every match,” Fery said in an on-court interview. “I just can’t believe it.”
The only other wild card to have reached the men’s singles semi-finals at the All England Club was Goran Ivanisevic in his run to the Wimbledon title in 2001.
Fery earned a standing ovation after winning the first set. The deafening roar that followed Fery taking the tie-breaker to seal the second set was heard over at Wimbledon’s other main stadium – No. 1 Court, where Alexander Zverev was in the process of beating Taylor Fritz in straight sets.
Fery sealed his memorable victory with an ace and fell onto his back to soak in the applause.
“That last game, I felt emotions that I hadn’t experienced before in my life,” he said.
A short time later, Zverev wrapped up his 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win to set up a semi-final against Fery tomorrow.
Moments before the start of their quarterfinal match, Fery and Cobolli were surprised to meet Camilla in the hallway moments before they walked onto court.
“She came to say hello, she introduced herself to both me and Flavio,” Fery said. “It’s obviously an honour to play in front of her. Great to meet her. She had some really kind words to me at the end, as well. Playing in front of tennis legends and now the queen, so it’s special.”
Roger Federer had been on hand on Monday when Fery ousted Grigor Dimitrov in five sets in a fourth-round match that was also on Centre Court.
A champagne cork popped in the crowd late in the first set and distracted Cobolli during his service motion. The locals will surely pop a few more with a British player to support in Friday’s semi-final.
The 24-year-old Cobolli, who lost the French Open final to Zverev, made 41 unforced errors to Fery’s 15 and only broke the British player once – to start the second set, but Fery broke back in the fourth game.
“I felt like I didn’t express even 50 per cent of my tennis. But obviously that had a lot to do with him. He was better than me,” said Cobolli, who also lost to Fery in the first round at this year’s Australian Open.
Tomorrow’s other semi-final pits seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic against defending champion Jannik Sinner.
KOSTYUK TO MEET NOSKOVA IN SEMI-FINALS
Earlier Wednesday, Marta Kostyuk beat Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-2 to reach her first Wimbledon semi-finals.
The 24-year-old Ukrainian also reached the last four at the French Open, losing to Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, the eventual champion in Paris.
Kostyuk raised her hands and dropped to her knees after Paolini scuffed a shot on her second match point. After shaking hands with the Italian, Kostyuk did a pirouette on court.
Kostyuk will be back on Centre Court today to face Linda Noskova for a spot in Saturday’s final. Noskova beat Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-5 on No. 1 Court.
It’s the first career Grand Slam semi-final for the 21-year-old Noskova, who improved to 10-1 on grass this season.
The other women’s semi-final features Coco Gauff against Karolina Muchova, who like Noskova is from the Czech Republic. They’re up first on Centre Court today.
