British wildcard Arthur Fery pulled off something no home wildcard had managed in more than three decades at Wimbledon. Despite suffering three separate nosebleeds during the match, he outlasted Belgium's Zizou Bergs in a gruelling five-set thriller to reach the fourth round, keeping British hopes alive in the singles draw.
Playing in front of a packed court 18, Fery won 2-6 7-5 2-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (10-5), recovering twice after falling a set and a break down over the course of the match.
First British wildcard since 1993 to reach this stage
Fery had already fought back to beat Bosnia's Damir Dzumhur and Finland's Otto Virtanen in his opening two matches, and for long stretches against Bergs it looked as though he had nothing left to give. But the 23-year-old held his nerve, dug in, and eventually became the first British wildcard to reach the Wimbledon fourth round since Andrew Foster achieved the feat in 1993.
"No words for it, honestly," Fery said after throwing himself to the floor in celebration at the end of four hours and 39 minutes on court, the longest match of this year's tournament. "I don't know what is going on right now. It will take time to digest it."
The win will lift him into the world's top 100 for the first time, and he is set to collect £300,000 in prize money for his run to the fourth round. He will next face either Italy's Matteo Berrettini or Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov.
Three nosebleeds and a Grand Slam rule
Returning to court 18, where he had beaten Virtanen in the second round, Fery had a tough start, falling an early break down and suffering a nosebleed for the third match running. He needed treatment for it on three separate occasions during the match, with the last coming as he served to stay in the match at 4-5 down in the deciding set.
"It is a problem I am going to address. It has happened before but it's not that common," Fery said. "It happened at times today when I didn't want to stop, when momentum was with me. I know it's annoying for the opponent. It gives me some extra time to rest sometimes."
Under Grand Slam rules, a player who is bleeding must receive treatment before play can continue, though they are not required to leave the court, and there is no limit on how many times a player can be treated during a match.
How the five sets swung back and forth
Bergs took the opening set with a mix of vicious forehand winners and deft drop shots, putting Fery under early pressure. But after dropping his own serve first in the second set, Fery settled into his rhythm and took advantage of a growing number of errors from the 6ft 1in Belgian to level the match.
The momentum shifted again midway through the third set, with Bergs reeling off six games in a row to race into a 4-1 lead in the fourth. Backed by a raucous home crowd, the French-born Briton dug deep to claw his way back into contention and force a deciding set.
Hopes appeared to be fading once more when Bergs moved 4-1 ahead in the fifth set, but Fery produced one final surge to drag the match into a tie-break, which he came through comfortably as the crowd's belief carried him over the line.
"With that support, it is unbelievable. I requested to play on this court and the club made it happen, which was awesome," Fery said. "I was down for pretty much the whole match, managed to scramble back from two breaks and 4-1 in the fifth, and just tried to put up as much of a fight as I could."
Ranking boost, prize money and what comes next
The victory guarantees Fery a career milestone, entry into the world's top 100 for the first time, alongside the £300,000 payday that comes with a Wimbledon fourth-round appearance. His reward is a meeting with either Matteo Berrettini of Italy or Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the next round.
Other British results in doubles action
In Saturday's mixed doubles, Joe Salisbury paired with Canada's Leylah Fernandez to beat fellow Briton Julian Cash and his Dutch partner Demi Schuurs 7-6 (9-7) 6-4.
Britain's Neal Skupski and his American partner Desirae Krawczyk, two-time winners of the Wimbledon mixed doubles title, fought back to beat British duo Billy Harris and Freya Christie 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.
British pair Jodie Burrage and David Stevenson were beaten 6-4 6-1 by Italian top seeds Andrea Vavassori and Sara Errani, while Ben Jones and Maia Lumsden won an all-British clash against Joshua Paris and Eden Silva.
In the women's doubles, Britain's Samantha Murray Sharan and Thailand's Lanlana Tararudee stepped in as replacements for Serena and Venus Williams following their withdrawal from the tournament, but fell 6-3 6-4 to Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra.
