ARTHUR FERY’S dreams of a Wimbledon final were ended in comprehensive fashion by French Open champion Alexander Zverev this afternoon.

The British wild card has been the story of the fortnight far beyond these shores with his run to the last four as an unheralded 23-year-old ranked 114.

But Zverev, the grand slam monkey finally off his back following his success in Paris, was a significant step up from any of Fery’s previous opponents and the second seed powered his way to a 7-6 (0) 6-2 6-4 victory.

Zverev becomes the first German man since Boris Becker in 1995 to make the final here, while he joins the select group of players to have reached the trophy match at each grand slam.

“It’s amazing,” Zverev said of his achievement. “This grand slam has always been the one I struggled with the most, now all of a sudden I’m in the final of Wimbledon. Incredibly happy, incredibly proud, but we’ve got one more match to go on Sunday.

“Arthur is an unbelievable player. I think he’s going to be a senior citizen on our tour because I think he’s going to play for 15 years plus and I really think he’s going to do amazing things in this sport.”

Fery has been defying the odds all fortnight, prevailing in fifth-set tie-breaks after improbable comebacks against Zizou Bergs and Grigor Dimitrov and then playing the match of his life to swat aside ninth seed Flavio Cobolli in the quarter-finals.

He was just the fifth British man in the open era to reach the last four at Wimbledon, with only Andy Murray going on to make the final.

Fery walked off the court today to a standing ovation despite his defeat, with his life-changing run propelling him to 36th in the rankings, making him the new British number one.