BRITISH wildcard Arthur Fery beat Zizou Bergs in a five-set thriller to reach the Wimbledon fourth round and keep home singles hopes alive – despite suffering three nosebleeds during the match.
Wildcard Fery recovered twice from falling a set and a break down to come through 2-6 7-5 2-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (10-5) in front of a packed crowd on court 18.
Fery was outside the world’s top 100 at the start of the championships but played above his ranking to become sole home player to reach the singles third round.
After fighting back to beat Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur and Finland’s Otto Virtanen in his first two matches, it seemed as though Fery had finally run out of steam against Belgium’s Bergs.
But the 23-year-old held his nerve and then rallied to become the first male British wildcard to reach the Wimbledon fourth round since Andrew Foster in 1993.
“No words for it, honestly,” said Fery, who threw himself to the floor in celebration after a gruelling 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 victory will move him into the world’s top 100 for the first time, while he is set to earn £300,000 in prize money for reaching the fourth round – where he will face Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria next.
Returning to court 18 – where he had beaten Virtanen in the second round – Fery endured a difficult start when he fell an early break down and suffered a nosebleed for the third match in a row.
He received treatment on the issue on three separate occasions, with the final nosebleed arriving as he was serving to stay in the match at 5-4 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 annoying for the opponent. It gives me some extra time to rest sometimes.”
A player who is bleeding must receive treatment before play can continue, but they do not have to leave the court. There is no limit under Grand Slam rules on the number of treatments a player can receive(BBC Sport)