British wildcard Arthur Fery was cheered on by the Queen as he won his Wimbledon quarter final in straight sets on Centre Court. The 23-year-old, who grew up only 10 minutes from the All England Club, beat Italian ninth seed Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday afternoon to make it through to the semi-finals.
Queen Camilla's surprise visit
Camilla, who made a surprise visit to Wimbledon, was seen supporting Fery from the royal box, wearing a turquoise chiffon dress by designer Anna Valentine. Following his emphatic win, Camilla joined the rest of the crowd to give Fery a standing ovation, smiling as she clapped along.
Historic achievement for wildcard
Fery is just the second wildcard in Wimbledon history to make it through to a semi-final. He will play men’s second seed, Alexander Zverev, on Friday. Following his victory, Fery told courtside interviewer Lee McKenzie: “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.”
Emotional victory
Fery dropped to the floor after his winning ace, before walking up to the net and shaking hands with his opponent. The crowd erupted into loud cheers with many onlookers standing to applaud the player. His parents appeared emotional as they watched alongside US actress Elle Fanning and adventurer Bear Grylls, among others.
Match statistics
It is 25 years since Goran Ivanisevic famously became the first wildcard 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 (7-4) 6-0.
