(July 8, 2026) The “Fairytale” run has been extended for Briton Arthur Fery. The 23-year-old former Stanford University player stopped No. 9 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-0 on Centre Court in the presence of Britain’s Queen Camilla in the Royal Box.
He is the fifth British man to reach the Wimbledon semifinals in the Open Era after Roger Taylor, Tim Henman, Andy Murray and Cameron Norrie.
“I played Flavio earlier this year and I beat him in Australia, which was a boost of confidence and I knew that I could do it,” Fery said. “Even though it was my first time in the quarter-finals and he has done it before in a Grand Slam, that gave me a little boost of confidence. I just kept going. I was very nervous beforehand but just kept going to the finish line.”
Coming into the tournament, the wild card who grew up near Wimbledon was World No. 114, but now the current ATP Live rankings have him at No. 36. Should he reach the final, he’ll rise to 26.
“It gets better and better every match,” Fery said in his on-court interview. “I just can’t believe it. Incredible, playing on Centre Court for the second time, a second win. I just can’t believe it.”
The only other wild card to reach the final four was in 2001 Goran Ivanisevic, who went on to win the tournament.
Fery will be playing current French Open winner Alexander Zverev, the second seed in the final four.
“I guess it’s going to be a first time and we will figure it out as we go,” Fery said when asked about playing Zverev, who had just won his match against Taylor Fritz. “I’m just going to keep going. I’ve been doing a great job over the past 10 days. I’m just going to do the same thing and see where that takes me.”
Zverev beat Fritz in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Fritz was a few games into the match when his knee tendinitis started flaring up.
“I was just like panicking, ‘What am I going to do?’” said Fritz. “I just didn’t expect it at all.”
“He’s beaten me for two years straight,” Zverev said. “I played a fantastic match.”
While Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk played on Centre Court on Wednesday, her countrymen and family were dealing with an attack from Russia in Kyiv.
“It’s not easy to disconnect entirely,” Kostyuk said after beating former Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini in straight sets to reach her first Wimbledon semifinal.
“It was really tough for me last week when the first big attack happened,” Kostyuk said to media. “Then on Monday they ruined like four streets of residential buildings. It was like five kilometers away from where my parents live. Again, another difficult night and a lot of dead people, innocent people, kids. It’s not easy. I try to be aware of everything that’s going on. Of course, I try for these things not to influence me too much.”
Kostyuk is not pleased with the International Olympic Committee now allowing Russia back into the Olympic Games.
“My thoughts are that it’s terrible,” Kostyuk said. “I think it’s very, very far from fair play for all the countries involved here, not just for Ukraine. I 100% don’t agree with this decision. … I just want to go out there and hopefully beat every single Russian I play in the Olympics.”
“For sure, it was a very good match,” Kostyuk said to the media about her play. “Happy with the performance. I think I did well tactically. It’s never easy to go out for the first time on Centre Court. I didn’t know how I’m going to handle this and how I’m going to perform. So happy with everything.”
She’s hoping to become the first Ukrainian to reach the Wimbledon final. First, the 12th seed will have to get past the No. 9 seed, Czech Linda Noskova.
Noskova beat Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-5. Noskova, at 21 is the youngest player to gain her first semifinal berth at Wimbledon since countrywoman Petra Kvitova did it in 2010
“The feelings are incredible, like never before” Noskova said in her on-court interview. “This is what I’m playing tennis for…for these matches, for these big stages and big courts. It’s truly a special feeling.
“I was a little bit nervous before the match, I’m not going to lie. Usually when it’s really, really important for me and I’m putting a little bit of pressure on myself, that’s when I play the best. When I’m feeling a little nervous, that means that I care a lot.”
“This is never gonna be easy. None of these matches are… Marta is an incredible player. We’ve had a few matches now.”
