Fery last Briton standing in Wimbledon singles
· Yahoo Sports
Arthur Fery is the last British player left standing in the Wimbledon singles as he fought back from a set down to reach the third round, while compatriots Katie Swan, Jacob Fearnley and Jan Choinski all crashed out.
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Only four home players reached the second round at the All England Club this week, with 15 Britons falling at the first hurdle - the highest number since 1988.
Fery became the first British man to win a first-round match when he rallied from a set down to beat Bosnia's Damir Dzumhur on Tuesday.
And the 23-year-old wildcard continued his winning streak in similar style against Finland's Otto Virtanen on Wednesday, battling back to seal a 5-7 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-3 victory on a packed-out court 18.
His compatriots were less fortunate.
Swan's dream return to SW19 after a three-year absence from the main draw ended in a 6-1 6-4 defeat by American Madison Keys.
Fearnley lost to Spain's Jaume Munar 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 6-4, while American Frances Tiafoe stopped Jan Choinski with a 4-6 6-2 7-5 6-2 win.
It is the first time since 2018, when Kyle Edmund was the solo survivor, that just one British player has advanced to the third round across both singles draws.
"It's great to do it for the UK. Selfishly I am doing it for myself first - but I'm always behind the other players and wishing them success," Fery said after his win.
"So happy with how I managed to keep my emotions in check and keep going. So happy to reach the third round."
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Fery, like Swan, was watched on by Catherine, the Princess of Wales - a patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC).
"I didn't know she was here. I probably would have been a bit more tight if I did," said Fery, who has reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first timeand is set to earn at least £185,000 in prize money.
Virtanen, the world number 140, caused the biggest shock of the men's draw so far on Tuesday when he knocked out fourth seed Ben Shelton in a five-set win.
The Finn, who spent more than four hours on court against Shelton, won just four points on Fery's serve in the opening five games, but when he was presented with a first break point at 5-5, he capitalised on it before serving out the set.
After suffering another nosebleed - a repeat of an issue he experienced against Dzumhur in the first round - Fery pulled himself level via a second-set tie-break and he did not offer Virtanen another break point before wrapping up the win.
Fery, ranked 114th in the world, will next face Zizou Bergs of Belgium.
Swan enjoyed a "full-circle moment" on her return to Wimbledon when she moved past Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu to claim her first Grand Slam main-draw win since defeating the same opponent in 2018.
But the 27-year-old was handed a difficult second-round draw in the form of 2025 Australian Open champion Keys.
Fresh from winning her fourth grass-court title at Eastbourne last week, Keys dropped just one game in the first set - although the opener was much closer than the 6-1 scoreline suggested as Swan squandered four break points.
The Briton, who considered retiring from tennis in 2024 because of a persistent back injury, had better luck in the second set and twice broke back, but Keys' quality prevailed despite having a partisan Court One crowd cheer against her.
Having been ranked as low as 1,114th just 14 months ago, Swan - now the world number 196 - said this year's Wimbledon has been "really positive" for her.
"It's quite surreal to think I was playing on Court One today, and 14 months ago I was playing a 15K in Sharm el-Sheikh. I have come quite a long way," said Swan, who has recently been competing on the lowest rung of the ITF women's circuit.
"It's been gradual and steady. That's kind of the goal from here, is to keep building my ranking week to week and earn my spot at these big tournaments."
Fearnley, meanwhile, fell short in a near three-hour contest against world number 44 Munar, who served superbly throughout.
Munar hit 15 aces, while Fearnley was hindered by eight double faults, and made significantly fewer unforced errors (15) than the Briton (45) in a solid display.
Fearnley managed to create more break point opportunities than Munar, but ultimately only managed to clinch two of those 10 openings as he missed out on a first third-round appearance at Wimbledon.
It briefly looked as though Choinski - the last of the four British players to step on to court on Thursday - might join Fery in the third round when he moved a set up against 17th seed Tiafoe.
But after creating 11 break point chances in the first set, Choinski fashioned just one more across the rest of the match as a re-energised Tiafoe charged ahead.