By Martyn Herman
LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) – Britain’s Arthur Fery kept the home flag flying at Wimbledon as he defied a nosebleed in a thrilling fightback against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs to reach the last 16 on Saturday.
Fans crammed around Court 18 roared on the 23-year-old as he battled back from nowhere to win 2-6 7-5 2-6 7-6(3) 7-6(5) in the longest match so far at this year’s championships.
Britain lost 15 of its 19 singles starters in round one and wildcard Fery was the only one to reach the third round.
He looked to be heading for defeat against 37th ranked Bergs when he trailed by two sets to one and a double break of serve.
Bergs tightened up though and his serve failed him as Fery stormed back to set up a deciding set.
In a raucous atmosphere, with crowds wedged on every vantage point in the late afternoon sunshine, Bergs moved 4-1 ahead in the fifth set, but again he could not shake off Fery.
A nosebleed for Fery when he served at 4-5 added to the drama but he looked the far calmer player as the deciding first-to-10 tiebreaker began.
With error flying off the racket of a crestfallen Bergs, Fery completed victory before collapsing onto his back in relief and exhaustion after four hours and 38 minutes.
Fery is the first British wildcard to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon since Andrew Foster in 1993 but with his ranking set to go into the top-100, the France-born player is now set to become a regular on the ATP Tour.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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