Preview: Wimbledon: Arthur Fery vs. Alexander Zverev - prediction, head-to-head, tournament so far

Aiming to reach consecutive Grand Slam finals for the first time in his career, Alexander Zverev must drown out the noise of the partisan support to take down wildcard Arthur Fery.

The British player dispatched a disappointing Flavio Cobolli in straight sets yet again, thus setting up a maiden meeting with Zverev for a place in a first tour-level final.

Match preview

Fery had defeated Cobolli in Australia, but that version of the Italian had not experienced the feeling of a deep run to the championship match at a Slam, something he did in Paris last month.

That run meant that we backed the world No. 10 to get the better of the home wildcard; however, Fery had other ideas, dismantling the ninth seed 6-4, 7-6[4], 6-0 on Wednesday, with the third-set bagel an upshot of knocking the stuffing out of the Roland Garros finalist in the second-set tiebreak.

In doing that, the Brit has emulated Goran Ivanisevic as the only wildcard in Wimbledon history to reach this stage of the tournament, and the fact that Ivanisevic's 2001 run culminated in a Major win ought to excite the 23-year-old former Stanford star.

Fery had won just two matches at this level before a fourth main-draw appearance at the All England Club, but the world No. 114 has won five on the trot to put himself within one victory of claiming what every tennis player's dream is.

While he cannot look that far ahead owing to the challenge of beating Zverev and either Jannik Sinner or Novak Djokovic, the home hope will count on the partisan Centre Court support on Friday to upset the world No. 3.

The German broke new ground by reaching the Championships quarter-final this week, but Zverev went one better by snapping his seven-match losing run against Taylor Fritz.

Although the American player was battling a knee issue during their quarter-final tussle, the Roland Garros champion's comfortable 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 triumph in just under two hours was just what the doctor ordered for the second seed, who needs one more win to leapfrog Carlos Alcaraz and reclaim the world No. 2 ranking.

Wednesday's success also means that the 29-year-old has not only become the second-oldest player (29 years, 70 days) after Marin Cilic (33 years, 237 days) to make it to all four Slam semi-finals, joining Djokovic, Cilic, Alcaraz and Sinner as the active players to achieve the feat.

Having reached the championship match and won in Paris in June, Zverev is now one win away from competing for the honour of holding the Channel Slam.

A staggering 78 aces and 81% of first-serve points won put him as a strong favourite, and while the 29-year-old has never made it to this stage at SW19, his experience at this stage makes the second seed the resounding favourite to make Sunday's title match.

Tournament so far

Arthur Fery:

First round: vs. Damir Dzumhur 3-6 6-2 6-2 6-1

Second round: vs. Otto Virtanen 5-7 7-6(3) 6-3 6-3

Third round: vs. Zizou Bergs 2-6 7-5 2-6 7-6(3) 7-6(5)

Fourth round: vs. Grigor Dimitrov 7-5 3-6 4-6 6-4 7-6(7)

Quarter-final: vs. Flavio Cobolli 6-4 7-6[4] 6-0

Alexander Zverev:

First round: vs. Alexander Blockx 6-4 6-7[8] 7-6[5] 7-6[0]

Second round: vs. Valentin Royer 6-1 6-3 7-6[3]

Third round: vs. Marcos Giron 6-2 7-6[4] 6-4

Fourth round: vs. Jiri Lehecka 6-4 7-5 3-6 7-6[6]

Quarter-final: vs. Taylor Fritz 6-4 6-4 6-2

Head To Head

Fery and Zverev will meet for the first time on the ATP Tour, ahead of their Wimbledon semi-final.

The British wildcard's five wins have taken him to 9-4 for the season, significantly inferior to Zverev, who holds a 43-10 record in 2026.

The German superstar has not lost to a player outside the top 100 since suffering defeat to Cristian Garin in Munich two years ago, an 18-0 record before the ongoing Slam.

We say: Zverev to win in three sets

Although Fery will have the support of most of the fans on Centre Court, Zverev's firepower and impressive numbers on serve make him a clear favourite.

Even though many will back the wildcard to take a set or two off the second seed, the world No. 3 should get the job done in straights to reach back-to-back Grand Slam title matches for the first time.