British wild card Arthur Fery beats Flavio Cobolli to reach Wimbledon semifinals

Arthur Fery reached the Wimbledon men’s semifinals on Wednesday after the British wildcard beat Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-0 at the All England Club. The 23-year-old advanced to the last four for the first time at a Grand Slam and became only the second wildcard from any nation to make the men’s semifinals at Wimbledon, according to the tournament website. Alexander Zverev also moved through on the same day, setting up a semifinal against Fery on Friday. Official Wimbledon results listed Fery’s straight-sets win as one of the headline outcomes from Day 10. ### How emphatic was Fery’s win over Cobolli? Arthur Fery closed the quarterfinal in two hours and 11 minutes, according to Wimbledon’s match report, after taking the first set 6-4, edging the second in a tiebreak and then sweeping the third 6-0. Cobolli came into the match as the No. 9 seed and a recent Roland-Garros finalist, but Fery took control after the second set and did not allow the Italian a game in the decider. (wimbledon.com) The Wimbledon draw and results pages show Fery’s path has included wins over Grigor Dimitrov and Cobolli after entering the tournament as a wildcard. Wimbledon’s earlier round coverage said Fery had never previously gone beyond the second round of a Grand Slam before this run. ### Why is this run unusual in Wimbledon terms? Wimbledon’s official report said Fery became just the second wildcard from any country to reach the men’s semifinals at the Championships. (wimbledon.com) The tournament also said he was the first man outside the top 100 to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Nick Kyrgios in 2014 before going one round further on Wednesday. (wimbledon.com) BBC Sport described Fery’s progress as a shock semifinal run and said his route has been built on “good tennis IQ” and belief. That assessment was BBC’s characterization, but the results themselves place Fery in the last four of his home major after starting the event outside the usual group of contenders. ### Who does Fery face next, and when? Alexander Zverev will play Arthur Fery in the semifinals on Friday, July 10, according to Olympics.com. (wimbledon.com) The same report said the 29-year-old German reached the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time, giving the match a first-time Wimbledon semifinalist on each side. (bbc.co.uk) Official Wimbledon pages list the men’s singles draw with Fery and Zverev placed in the same half, while the other semifinal features Novak Djokovic against defending champion Jannik Sinner. Outlook India reported that Djokovic reached that semifinal after a five-hour, 15-minute quarterfinal against Felix Auger-Aliassime. ### What else happened in the quarterfinals? (olympics.com) Marta Kostyuk and Linda Noskova both reached their first Wimbledon semifinals on the women’s side on July 8. The Guardian reported that Kostyuk beat Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-2, while Noskova defeated Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-5. The men’s quarterfinal day also sent Zverev through to the last four, completing the semifinal lineup around Fery’s breakthrough. (wimbledon.com) Olympics.com said the Fery-Zverev match will be played Friday, July 10, at Wimbledon, with the Djokovic-Sinner semifinal on the other side of the draw. (olympics.com) (wimbledon.com)