By Martyn HermanLondon ― Britain’s Arthur Fery became only the fourth wildcard to reach the men’s singles semifinals at a Grand Slam as his dream Wimbledon run continued with a 6-4 7-6(4) 6-0 victory over Italian ninth seed Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday.He will meet Alexander Zverev, who beat Taylor Fritz, in the semifinal.Born in France to French parents but having grown up five minutes from the All England Club, Fery entered Wimbledon ranked 114th in the world and largely unknown to the wider British public but his exploits have captivated the nation.French Open runner-up Cobolli was the highest-ranked player the 23-year-old Fery has faced but on a sweltering Centre Court he produced another fearless performance.His victory means he is only the fifth British man in the professional era to reach the Wimbledon semifinals, joining Andy Murray, Tim Henman, Roger Taylor and Cameron Norrie.Cobolli had the first chance of the match but failed to convert a break point at 3-3 in the first set and the Italian wavered when serving at 4-5, double-faulting and then missing a forehand wide to pass up the opening set.Fery recovered from dropping serve early in the second set and then controlled the tiebreak to put one foot in the semifinals as errors flowed off the Cobolli racket.With 14 hours already in his legs just to reach the quarterfinals, including marathon five-set victories in both the previous rounds, Fery showed no sign of fatigue in the searing heat as he broke Cobolli’s serve at the start of the third.Fery showed incredible resilience to fight off break points in the next game and that proved to be Cobolli’s final resistance as the Italian cracked under the relentless intensity of the British player.He closed out the win with an ace to become the lowest-ranked player to reach the men’s semifinals at Wimbledon since 125th ranked Goran Ivanisevic memorably won the title in 2001.The only other men’s wildcards to reach Grand Slam semifinals are Jimmy Connors at the 1991 US Open and Henri Leconte at the 1992 French Open. Zverev cleared one of the biggest hurdles in his bid for the Wimbledon title by snapping a lengthy losing run against Fritz with a 6-4 6-4 6-2 win to stay on track for back-to-back Grand Slam triumphs.Having come up short in his last seven clashes with Fritz, including at the All England Club in 2024, French Open champion Zverev finally turned the tables with an assured display. The German second seed rode an early break to a 5-4 lead and let out a roar of relief after fending off a late fightback from Fritz in the 10th game to win the opening set under the blazing sun on Court One.Zverev turned up the heat again in the next set after Fritz received a medical timeout for a niggling right knee issue after three games, and the 29-year-old celebrated emphatically after seizing a crucial break that left his opponent on the ropes.The crowd erupted in cheers a few moments later when news trickled in that Briton Fery had gone ahead two sets to love on Centre Court and Zverev soon followed suit with a comfortable hold to move further clear as Fritz’s hopes began to fade.Zverev hit a scintillating backhand winner to seal a double break at 4-1 in the third set, which he closed out with minimum fuss to reach his maiden semifinal at the grasscourt Major and 12th overall. Reuters