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 have done it.
But the way the young man born in France and raised up the road from the All England Club has handled everything with such calmness has been as impressive as anything.
Both players showed some nerves early on and it was Cobolli who had the first opening at 3-3 only to go for broke on a forehand return and send it flying over the baseline.
The excitable crowd began to rattle the Italian, who was understandably less than amused by a champagne cork popping in between his first and second serves in the 10th game.
A double fault brought up a first set point for Fery, and a missed forehand from Cobolli had the British player leaping and shouting ‘Allez’.
Fery played a poor game to start the second set but a forehand fizzed onto the baseline earned him the break back for 2-2, and it was the wild card who was the better player.
While Cobolli was in his second successive Wimbledon quarter-final, the Italian does not play in a typical grass-court style, and Fery’s willingness to take the ball early and dictate from inside the court was reaping dividends.
He did not manage to break the Cobolli serve again but he pressed his superiority home in the tie-break to move within one set of victory.
The finish line came even closer when he immediately broke a frustrated Cobolli to start the third set, the Italian gesticulating furiously at his box, and Fery then showed his big-match mentality by playing two of his best points to fight off break opportunities in the next game.
Cobolli tried to appeal to the crowd, who surprisingly gave him a charitable cheer, but the home favourite was in the type of zone he could scarcely have dreamed was possible, and he raced through the set without losing a game.
A huge challenge awaits next in second seed Alexander Zverev but this was a moment to savour.
“It just seems to get better and better every match, I can’t believe it,” said Fery. “It’s incredible playing on Centre Court for the second time, second win.
“I played Flavio earlier this year in Australia and I beat him and that was a boost of confidence. I was very nervous beforehand but just kept going until the finish line. That last game I felt emotions that I hadn’t experienced in my life before.”
