History man! British wildcard Arthur Fery beats Italy's Cobolli to reach Wimbledon semis

British wildcard Arthur Fery has beaten Italy's Flavio Cobolli in straight sets to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon.

The 23-year-old, who entered the tournament ranked 114, beat ninth-seed Cobolli 6-4 7-6 (7/4) 6-0 on Centre Court.

Fery is the first British wildcard to reach the semi-finals at a Grand Slam in the open era, and joins Sir Andy Murray, Tim Henman, Cameron Norrie, and Roger Taylor as home male members of the Wimbledon last-four club. Fery is now the only non-seeded player left in the tournament.

Wildcards are players whose world ranking is not high enough to qualify automatically for The Championships but who are accepted into the main draw by the committee.

Fery's strong run has been a major upset of the tournament, having only two Grand Slam victories to his name before Wimbledon.

He will play German Alexander Zverev, who is second seed after world number one Jannik Sinner, in the semi-final on Friday.

His achievement is so extraordinary, he is only the second wildcard in Wimbledon history to make it through to a semi-final.

Fery is also the third-lowest ranked man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals since 1985.

The match will only be his sixth Grand Slam main draw appearance.

The Briton has quickly become a crowd favourite and secured his victory on Wednesday in front of nearly 15,000 cheering Centre Court spectators and the Queen, who watched on from the royal box.

Queen Camilla, wearing a turquoise chiffon dress by designer Anna Valentine, was seen applauding Fery.

The King's nephew, Peter Phillips and his new wife Harriet, were also in the crowd.

'Fantastic achievement'

The Princess of Wales was among those to congratulate Fery for his history-making performance, describing the match as a "memorable day at Wimbledon".

"Congratulations to Arthur Fery on becoming the first British wildcard to reach the Gentlemen's Singles semi-finals in the open era, a fantastic achievement that has inspired so many," she said in a post on X.

"Wishing you the very best for the next round."

Sir Keir Starmer also heaped praise on Fery, and wished him luck for the semi-finals.

"What a moment for Arthur Fery," the prime minister said on X.

"From wild card to Wimbledon semi-finalist, a brilliant performance on the biggest stage.

"Best of luck in your next match."

'I can't believe it'

Speaking on the court after his extraordinary win, Fery said: "I can't believe it, it's incredible playing on Centre Court for the second time, the second win."

Asked how he would be preparing for Friday's semi-final, he said: "I don't know as I've never been in this position before.

"I'm just going to keep going, I've been doing a great for the last 10 days I'm just going to keep going and see where that takes me."

Fery - who will turn 24 on Sunday, when the men's final will take place - told reporters that Queen Camilla had been waiting to congratulate him personally after the match.

"The Queen, she was waiting for me at the end of the match," he said.

"She congratulated me. I told her how much of an honour it was for me to play in front of her. She just said congratulations, keep going.

"I told her it was my birthday on Sunday, so it would be great to play the Wimbledon final on my birthday."

Straight sets win

Fery's intensity and strong ball-striking appeared to rattle Cobolli, who struggled to break back against the Briton.

Especially in the third set, Fery was in full control, much to the frustration of his Italian opponent, who often looked exasperated when turning to his coaching team.

Under the 32C heat and the eyes of thousands of fans, Fery held his cool and fired down an ace to clinch the win from a stunned Cobolli.

The crowd erupted into loud cheers, with his parents appearing emotional as they watched alongside Elle Fanning, and adventurer Bear Grylls, among others.

Fery collapsed on the ground, seemingly overwhelmed by the win.

He defeated former semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov after a five-set thriller over nearly four hours to reach the quarter-final, before making quick work of Cobolli, 24, who was the runner-up at last month's French Open.

Fery had previously beaten Cobolli at the Australian Open in January, but his win is still an upset considering his ranking.

The Briton will now be the only player to compete in the men's semi-finals who has not won a Grand Slam, with Sinner, Zverev and Novak Djokovic also progressing to the round.

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(c) Sky News 2026: History man! British wildcard Arthur Fery beats Italy's Cobolli to reach Wimbledon semis