British rookie Arthur Fery upsets Flavio Cobolli in Australian Open first round

By SABC Sport
18th January 2026

British youngster Arthur Fery claimed one of the biggest wins of his career by defeating No. 20 seed Flavio Cobolli at the Australian Open, continuing his remarkable run in Melbourne.

The 23-year-old Londoner reached the main draw at the first Grand Slam of the year without dropping a set and impressed hugely on John Cain Arena in a 7-6(1), 6-4, 6-1 win against an out-of-sorts Flavio Cobolli, who was struggling with stomach problems.

This was not the first big win for Fery at a Grand Slam, as he beat No 20 seed Alexei Popyrin on home soil at Wimbledon, so he he will want to play opponents with that seeding more often.

"The way he came through qualifying he didn't drop more than four games in a set was impressive," said former British No 1 Tim Henman on TNT Sport.

"He's obviously playing some confident tennis, but to go up against a quality player a seed in Cobolli and play so well in important moments. The first two sets were tight, but once he came through those, he did run away with the third set.

"He talked about how confident he feels and rightly so with a performance like that. You have to be confident after winning three rounds through qualifying. Well done Arthur but he's got another tough one next against Tomas Etcheverry.

"He took four hours to finish his own match. But we're going to be focusing on another Brit, so let's just keep it rolling."

Tennis365 spoke to Fery ahead of Wimbledon last year and he gave us a rundown on his story, with injuries affecting his progress.

"I've just been injured a lot, so it's been tricky, but I'm confident in my level and I know that I can play very well, so yeah, it's just trying to put my A game on the court and see what happens," Fery told Tennis365.

"Unless you are playing one of the guys in the top 20 or above, I don't feel there is such a big leap. A lot of the guys playing in Challengers are playing well and then you have the added factor of playing on grass and not too many players are used to it, so it does give everyone a chance.

"I know my level's there. I've just got to play a lot of matches and yeah, stay on court and play a lot of matches.

"I just want to play as well as I can and try and win some matches and it can be a massive boost to your ranking to do well at a Slam.

"I guess my first target is to be in the top 100, that's the kind of that's the starting goal, but I'm I mean I'm sure that there would always be something better to do and I would never really feel I feel like I'm at the end of the road. But yeah, I mean, yeah, trying to stay healthy is the first thing for me."

"It was good for me. It was different than turning pro straight away at 18," he continued.

"I wanted to give myself a back-up plan with the academic opportunity and Stamford was perfect for that, as it is one of the best schools in the world. It also gave me a bit of time to mature and gave me three years to decide whether I wanted to play tennis as a career.

"I gained a lot of experience out there and you can see it works, with Cam Norrie, Paul Jubb and Jacob Fernley all doing well after that route."

Fery also told us about his inspirations growing up, including two of the biggest names in the game in recent years.

"I would say Roger Federer was the player I admired more than anyone because he probably showed the highest level of elegance we have ever seen on a tennis court," he added.

"I also really liked Jo-Wilfried Tsonga when I was growing up. When you are young, you tend to try things based on the players you have watched and it is full circle moment for me to be now playing in the main draw now.

"I grew up watching Andy [Murray] win Grand Slams and he has had a massive influence on everyone in Britain. I've hut with him at the NTC [National Tennis Centre] and that is a bit surreal. I'm sure if I told myself ten years ago that I would be where I am now, I would never have believed it. You get used to it when it is becoming the norm, but it's still an awesome experience."