British wildcard Arthur Fery will play Italy’s Flavio Cobolli for a place in the Wimbledon semi-finals on Wednesday after keeping his remarkable run alive with a five-set victory over fellow wildcard Dimitrov.
Fery, 23, arrived at the Championships ranked 114th in the world and with just two grand slam victories to his name, but he has now reached the quarter-finals at a grand slam. In doing so, he became just the sixth British man to make the Wimbledon quarter-finals in the open era, underlining the scale of his breakthrough week.
The next challenge is a major one. Cobolli is the Italian ninth seed and the French Open runner-up, and he comes into the match after navigating his own demanding route through the draw.
How Fery reached the Wimbledon last eight
Fery booked his quarter-final spot in dramatic fashion, beating Dimitrov 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-7) in three hours and 55 minutes. The match swung repeatedly, with Fery recovering after falling behind in sets and then holding his nerve in the deciding-set tie-break to close it out.
The victory continued a pattern that has defined his tournament: Fery has now won two matches in a row at Wimbledon from two sets to one down. He also reflected on earlier escapes during the fortnight, noting that he was a double-break down in the fourth set against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs and a break down in the fifth, while he was also a break down in the fourth set against Dimitrov.
“It’s been the story of the tournament for me,” Fery said. “I was really close to losing in the last round and again today. A break down in the fourth, just trying to keep fighting, to have a good attitude and it paid off. I played really well with my back against the wall and it paid off today.”
Fery also captured the scale of what he has achieved in a short space of time at the Championships. “I couldn’t have imagined it. A week ago I would have been happy to win a few matches here, and now winning four, being in the quarters, it’s a dream,“ he said.
Why the Cobolli match is a different test
Waiting for Fery in the quarter-finals is Cobolli, 24, who earlier beat Alex de Minuar in three tough sets, winning 7-5 7-6 6-3 to extend his own battling run. Cobolli’s recent form includes reaching his first grand slam final last month at the French Open, where he lost to Alexander Zverev in five sets.
That pedigree makes Cobolli a significant hurdle for the British wildcard, but there is also an intriguing recent head-to-head angle. In a twist, Fery and Cobolli have already met at a grand slam this season, with Fery winning in straight sets.
Fery, making his overseas grand slam debut, won 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-1 against a struggling Cobolli, who took a medical timeout and was visited by the doctor as he dealt with a stomach bug. The context of that match is central to how Fery is framing the rematch at Wimbledon.
“It’s going to be a good match regardless,” Fery said. “I’m expecting it to be very, very difficult and different to Australia. Completely different conditions. I’m sure he’s going to be at 100 per cent of his capacities here, which maybe he wasn’t quite 100 per cent in Australia.
“I played really well in Australia. Felt like I dominated the match. So we’ll use that experience for Wednesday.”
What’s at stake in the quarter-final
With a semi-final place on the line, Wednesday’s match represents another step into unfamiliar territory for Fery, who has already surpassed expectations by reaching the last eight. For Cobolli, it is a chance to keep building on a season that has included a French Open final and now a Wimbledon run that has required resilience, including his three-set win over de Minuar.
The matchup also brings a clear storyline: a British wildcard riding momentum and repeated comebacks against a top-10 seed with recent grand slam final experience, and a rematch of their earlier meeting this season under conditions Fery expects to be “completely different.”
Whatever happens next, Fery’s five-set win over Dimitrov has ensured his Wimbledon campaign will be remembered as one of the standout British runs of the tournament, and it has set up a quarter-final with genuine stakes and a fresh layer of intrigue.