Wimbledon 2026: Arthur Fery unable to emulate Andy Murray as fairytale ended by Alexander Zverev in semi-finals

10.07.2026, 18:09 skysports.com

Britain's Arthur Fery lost in straight sets to Germany's Alexander Zverev as his fairytale Wimbledon run ended in the semi-finals.

Fery was looking to become just the second Briton after Andy Murray to reach the men's singles Wimbledon final in tennis' Open era, which began in 1968, but was progressively overpowered by Zverev, who will play a fifth career Grand Slam final on Sunday.

The French Open champion took a while to work out how to beat Fery but used his natural, aggressive groundstrokes and big serve to see off the new British No 1 7-6 (7-0) 6-2 6-4.

Fery said he would use the crowd to "my advantage" and he showed no semi-final nerves as he went head to head with Zverev in some lengthy baseline rallies from the off.

But Zverev made the first break to go 3-1 up as he punished some unforced errors from Fery, before the 23-year-old hit back immediately and it was soon 3-3.

Neither player was able to generate another break point chance so a tie-break was required and Zverev simply took off with a dominant display of serving and ball-striking to not drop a point in the tie-break and claim the first set.

Fery never fully recovered and was broken early in the second set after a point was forced to be replayed due to a ball boy collecting a ball when 0-30 down. It coincided with Zverev finding a lovely rhythm on his forehand side and raising his groundstroke speed.

Latest scores from the All England Club 🎾

Wimbledon 2026: Men's singles draw ⏩

Wimbledon 2026: Women's singles draw ⏩

Wimbledon 2026: Order of Play 📝

Latest tennis highlights and video ▶️

Get Sky Sports or stream with NOW 📺📱

Zverev's 3-1 lead quickly turned to a 5-1 advantage as he did not face a break point on his way to securing the second set.

The energy from the crowd was now seeping away and it showed on the court as Fery went 0-30 down on his second service game. Although he recovered to hold, he was unable to repeat that feat in his next service game and went 4-2 down.

It looked like Zverev was going to break for a second time at 0-40 up but Fery, urged on by the crowd, saved all three break points then made back-to-back aces. Nevertheless, Fery was unable to break back so Zverev cruised through to his first Wimbledon final.

More to follow...