London, July 8 (IANS) Unheralded Briton Arthur Fery continued his fairytale run at Wimbledon 2026, becoming only the second wild card player ever to reach the men’s semifinals with a straight sets victory over Frehcn Open 2026 runner-up Flavio Cobolli.

Fery continued his best season at his home Grand Slam, cruising past the Italian Cobolli 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-0 in two hours and 14 minutes to emulate Croatian legend Goran Ivanisevic as the second wild card to storm into the semifinals at Wimbledon. Ivanisevic did one better and reached the final 25 years ago.

The 23-year-old Briton, who entered the grass-court major with just six tour-level wins to his name, produced a high-class all-around performance under the baking London sun to overwhelm Top-10 star Cobolli and become the lowest-ranked men’s singles semi-finalist at SW19 since then-World No. 125 Goran Ivanisevic won the title in 2001.

The World No. 114 Fery said his tournament is getting better and better. “It just seems to be getting better and better every match,” Fery said in his on-court interview. “I just can’t believe it. Incredible, playing on Centre Court for the second time, a second win. I just can’t believe it,” he added.

Fery also became the fifth British man to reach the Wimbledon semifinals in the Open Era after Roger Taylor, Tim Henman, Andy Murray, and Cameron Norrie. In Friday’s semifinals at The All England Club, Fery will take on second seed and Roland Garros champion Alexander Zverev, who defeated sixth seed Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

“I guess it’s going to be a first time, and we will figure it out as we go,” Fery said when asked about his plans ahead of his clash with Zverev. “I’m just going to keep going. I’ve been doing a great job over the past 10 days. I’m just going to do the same thing and see where that takes me.”

While Fery wrote his name in the record books, Zverev also achieved a few landmarks as he continued his brilliant season. After winning his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros a month and a half back, the German reached the quarterfinals and semifinals at Wimbledon for the first time in his career.

Fritz was hampered by a recurrence of the right knee injury that caused him to miss the clay-court season; even so, Zverev was playing at the peak of his powers. He looked like the Grand Slam champion he is – and that is a fearsome sight.

–IANS

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