Another chapter has been added to Arthur Fery‘s magical run at the Wimbledon Championships. He continues to move forward as Britain’s only hope from the men’s singles draw and has now recorded an incredible 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 victory over Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round. But as good as Fery’s performance was, his opponent just wasn’t good enough on the day and was criticized by fans for his display.

This result means that Dimitrov’s Round of 16 curse continues at the SW19. He has now lost four consecutive matches at the same stage and hasn’t made it past since 2023. The Bulgarian gained a crucial lead in the match by winning both the second and third set, but unexpectedly lost his rhythm in the final two sets, resulting in a disappointing defeat.

With his bid to reach the quarterfinals having ended in tears last year after he was forced to retire despite having a two-set lead over Jannik Sinner, this was a great opportunity for Dimitrov to finally break the fourth-round curse. He had come into this match as the favorite but was provided a reality check by Fery.

Dimitrov had gone neck-to-neck with Fery for majority of the first set. Both of them were strong on their serves and barely made any silly mistakes. But the tide turned when the local hero gained a crucial break at 5-5. He then served out the set to gain an important advantage.

But Dimitrov came back stronger in the second set. He held his serve and got the much-needed break in the eighth game while leading at 4-3. This helped him close out the set and level up the match. Dimitrov could hardly put a foot wrong with the momentum on his side and gained an early break in the third set as well to put Fery under immense pressure.

The Brit fought well but Dimitrov eventually closed out the set and took a valuable lead. Despite looking to be in great touch, the 35-year-old crumbled from the fourth set. He was cruising towards the victory after clinching a double break early in the set, but then threw away his lead and allowed Fery to get both of his breaks back. As the home crowd rallied behind him, Fery ended up making a remarkable comeback and won the set to force the match into a decider.

The final set would turn out to be as close as ever. Both the players made sure not to make any costly mistakes and dragged it to a tiebreaker. But Dimitrov gave away lousy points on his serve while Fery maintained his composure. This resulted in him clinching the breaker 10-7 and winning the dramatic encounter after almost four hours.

Despite being the much more experienced player, Dimitrov just couldn’t win the points when it mattered the most. It wasn’t a surprise that fans were left frustrated with the way he let the match slip out of his grasp in the final two sets.

Fans slam Grigor Dimitrov after he fumbles big time at Wimbledon

Another fan expressed a similar sentiment about Dimitrov and showered praise on Fery for his performance. “Gutted for Dimitrov. He should’ve closed it out in 4 just like Bergs should have. SMH. Kid has guts though and he’s riding the wave. Rooting for Grigor so hard especially because of last year and his fading chances, but hats off to Fery. He’s resilent.”

There was also a fan who wasn’t surprised at all seeing Dimitrov fumble against a younger player. “Grigor finally gets a scrub after beating highly talented players in the first two rounds and of course he fumbles it. Sad but not super surprising.”

A fan pointed out that this wasn’t the first time that Dimitrov has lost a match where he should have taken the win. “Sadly this is Dimitrov summed up. Outperforms exceptions every now and then only to follow it up losing matches he should win easily.”

Finally, a fan felt that Dimitrov choked under the pressure during the fourth set and that costed him big time. “That was so pathetic from Dimi. Up a break 2 times on the 4th then fully choked. Might be time to call it a career.”

The victory sees Fery march into the quarterfinals for the first time ever at the SW19. He has become a crowd favorite with the performances that he has been giving recently. He will be taking on Flavio Cobolli next in what is expected to be another cracker of a contest.