British wildcard Arthur Fery continued his unlikely Wimbledon adventure with a trip to the semi-finals where he faces German second seed Alexander Zverev, who also wasted no time reaching uncharted territory at the All England Club on Wednesday.
After Novak Djokovic’s late-night five-set epic on Tuesday, the remaining quarter-finalists appeared keen to conserve energy in the midst of a heatwave as they raced through their matches on the famous lawns of southwest London.
Local favourite Fery became only the fourth male wildcard to reach the last four at a Grand Slam as the 23-year-old dismissed Italian ninth seed Flavio Cobolli 6-4 7-6(4) 6-0 to progress at a venue that is quite literally his backyard.
“I’ve always believed in myself and believed that I could be a top player in the world,” Fery told reporters, explaining that he has not left his bubble despite the national significance of his achievement growing.
“Obviously, a semi-finalist of Wimbledon is something else. I’ve taken it match by match. I haven’t looked ahead. I’ve just played every match as it is. Yeah, here I am.”
ZVEREV CLEARS MAJOR WIMBLEDON HURDLE
As the French-born Fery was writing his name into folklore, French Open champion Zverev cleared a big hurdle in his bid for back-to-back Grand Slam titles by snapping a lengthy losing run against an ailing Taylor Fritz with a 6-4 6-4 6-2 win.
“I think winning Roland Garros definitely helps for sure. There’s no question about it,” Zverev said about his newfound confidence after winning a first match in eight meetings with fellow big-server Fritz.
“I changed my game a bit for grass (and) it’s working quite well … this year feels a bit different. Of course, I’m pleased about that.”
FRITZ CAUGHT OFF GUARD BY TENDONITIS FLARE-UP
A panicked Fritz said he had been caught off guard by the right knee tendonitis that flared up three games into his clash, after having gained momentum in final runs at Stuttgart and Halle ahead of Wimbledon.
“I don’t want to take away from how well he’s playing,” said Fritz. “I’m not saying the result would have been any different. He was playing aggressive, doing a lot of things that, I’d say, are big improvements to his game.
“It would have been an incredibly tough match. I’m really sad I didn’t get the chance to get into it, I guess. I felt like just because I was thinking about the knee, my focus was all over the place.”
KOSTYUK BRINGS FOCUS, THEN FIRE
Earlier, Marta Kostyuk’s laser focus helped the Ukrainian make quick work of Italian 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini on a sweltering Centre Court to move into a maiden Wimbledon semi-final with a 6-3 6-2 victory.
The 12th seed was a woman in a hurry from the start as she took the opening set in 36 minutes as temperatures went over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).
The fiery Kostyuk dived into another hot topic that she has been outspoken about in the past, when she described the likely inclusion of Russian athletes in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as a “terrible” move.
Her immediate attention will, however, be on Linda Noskova, who became the second Czech woman into this year’s semi-finals after Karolina Muchova when she beat Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3 7-5 in an under-the-radar match.
Noskova will look back on the success of former players from her nation to script her own fairytale.
Barbora Krejcikova won the title most recently in 2024 with Marketa Vondrousova winning in 2023. Petra Kvitova triumphed in 2011 and 2014 and Jana Novotna in 1998.
Before that Czech-born American Martina Navratilova won nine singles titles between 1978 and 1990.
“It’s always been a fact that as such a small country, we can definitely do big things in the world if we look up to the people that did it,” Noskova said.
“Czech tennis female players have always been incredible. If you look at 10 years back, 20, 30, there’s always been someone.”
(Reuters)
