Arthur Fery continues fairy-tale Wimbledon run by storming into semi-finals

Arthur Fery added another extraordinary chapter to his Wimbledon fairy tale by crushing Flavio Cobolli to reach the semi-finals.

It is 25 years since Goran Ivanisevic famously became the first wild card to win the men’s singles title, and Fery is now only two wins away from matching that historic achievement.

Having battled through deciding tie-breaks in comeback wins against Zizou Bergs and Grigor Dimitrov, 114th-ranked Fery completely outplayed ninth seed Cobolli on Centre Court, winning 6-4 7-6 (4) 6-0.

Among the milestones for the 23-year-old was a first win against a top-10 player, with Cobolli having reached his maiden grand slam final last month at the French Open.

He is just the fifth home man in the open era to make the last four here and by some distance the most improbable, joining Andy Murray, Tim Henman, Roger Taylor and, most recently, Cameron Norrie – who he will overtake next week to become British number one.

A more apt comparison would be that of Emma Raducanu and her breakthrough run to the title at the US Open five years ago.

Fery is still a distance away from matching that, of course, but ambushing a series of opponents, like Raducanu did in New York, is much harder in the men’s game over the best-of-five-set format.

It is easy to forget Fery had won just two tour level matches prior to this year’s grass-court season, with the second coming against Cobolli in the first round of the Australian Open in January.

The Italian had been hampered by a stomach bug on that occasion, though, and was not able to play anywhere near his best.

If Fery needed any reminding about the magnitude of the occasion, shaking hands with the Queen as he waited to go out on court and she made her way up to the Royal Box would