History man! British wildcard Arthur Fery beats Italy's Cobolli to reach Wimbledon semis

British wildcard Arthur Fery has beaten Italy's Flavio Cobolli in straight sets to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon.

The 23-year-old, who entered the tournament ranked 114, beat ninth-seed Cobolli 6-4 7-6 (7/4) 6-0 on Centre Court.

Fery is the first British wildcard to reach the semi-finals at a Grand Slam in the open era, and joins Sir Andy Murray, Tim Henman, Cameron Norrie, and Roger Taylor as home male members of the Wimbledon last-four club. Fery is now the only non-seeded player left in the tournament.

Wildcards are players whose world ranking is not high enough to qualify automatically for The Championships but who are accepted into the main draw by the committee.

Fery's strong run has been a major upset of the tournament, having only two Grand Slam victories to his name before Wimbledon.

He will play German Alexander Zverev, who is second seed after world number one Jannik Sinner, in the semi-final on Friday.

His achievement is so extraordinary, he is only the second wildcard in Wimbledon history to make it through to a semi-final.

Fery is also the third-lowest ranked man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals since 1985.

The match will only be is sixth Grand Slam main draw appearance.

The Briton has quickly become a crowd favourite and secured his victory on Wednesday in front of nearly 15,000 cheering Centre Court spectators and the Queen, who watched on from the royal box.

He defeated former semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov after a five-set thriller over nearly four hours to reach the quarter-final, before making quick work of Cobolli, 24, who was the runner-up at last month's French Open.

Fery's intensity and strong ball-striking appeared to rattle Cobolli, who struggled to break back against the Briton.

Especially in the third set, Fery was in full control, much to the frustration of his Italian opponent, who often looked exasperated when turning to his coaching team.

Fery had previously beaten Cobolli at the Australian Open in January, but his win is still an upset considering his ranking.

The Briton will now be the only player to compete in the men's semi-finals who has not won a Grand Slam, with Sinner, Zverev and Novak Djokovic also progressing to the round.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.

(c) Sky News 2026: History man! British wildcard Arthur Fery beats Italy's Cobolli to reach Wimbledon semis