Zverev overpowers wild card Fery to reach his first Wimbledon final

Alexander Zverev reached his first Wimbledon final on Friday, overpowering British wild card Arthur Fery 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4 on Centre Court to book his place in Sunday's title match.

For the reigning French Open champion it was a breakthrough on a surface that has long been his weakest. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist had never previously gone beyond the quarter-finals at the All England Club, and he will now contest the fifth Grand Slam final of his career, still chasing a first major title.

Fery, the world No. 114 who needed a wild card to enter the draw, carried the hopes of the home crowd. He showed no early nerves, trading long baseline rallies with Zverev and saving three break points at 0-40 with back-to-back aces as Centre Court roared. The first-set tiebreak was where the match turned: Zverev conceded not a single point to take it 7-0, and from there his heavier serve and aggressive groundstrokes steadily wore the Briton down.

The second set was one-way traffic, and though Fery dug in during the third, he could not manufacture the break he needed. Zverev struck 44 winners to his opponent's 16 and never let the fairytale find a second wind.

Fery's run still made history. He is only the second wild card, after 2001 champion Goran Ivanisevic, to reach a Wimbledon men's singles semi-final, and just the fifth British man in the Open era to get this far, following Andy Murray, Tim Henman, Cameron Norrie and Roger Taylor. He fell one win short of becoming the first Briton since Murray to reach the final.

Zverev now awaits the winner of the second semi-final between defending champion Jannik Sinner and seven-time champion Novak Djokovic.