Arthur Fery kept British hopes alive at Wimbledon as he fought back from a set down to beat Finland’s Otto Virtanen and reach the third round, but Katie Swan’s dream return to SW19 was ended by Madison Keys.
Only four home players were left standing at the All England Club after the opening round, with 15 Britons falling at the first hurdle – the highest number since 1988.
Fery became the first British man to reach the second round when he rallied from a set down to to beat Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur on Tuesday.
And the 23-year-old wildcard continued his winning streak in similar style against Virtanen, battling back to seal a 5-7 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-3 victory on a packed-out court 18.
“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.
“So happy with how I managed to keep my emotions in check and keep going. So happy to reach the third round.”
However, Swan – making her first appearance at Wimbledon in three years – was unable to join Fery in the third round as she fell to a 6-1 6-4 defeat by American Keys.
Both Fery and Swan were 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 time and is set to earn 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.
Fellow Britons Jacob Fearnley and Jan Choinski will hope to follow suit later on Thursday, when they take on Jaume Munar and Frances Tiafoe respectively.
Fery, ranked 114th in the world, will next face another unseeded player in either Zizou Bergs of Belgium or Portugal’s Jaime Faria.
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.”