Arthur Fery is into his first ATP Tour final after his semi-final opponent at the Winston-Salem Open, James Duckworth, retired due to injury. The Briton led 6-4 2-1 in their last-four encounter before the Australian, who had taken a medical timeout after the first set, decided he could not continue after 59 minutes.
Fery, who shot up the rankings after a breakthrough run to the Wimbledon semi-finals, will now face Ignacio Buse in the final. Buse, who beat Tommy Paul at the ATP 500 tournament in Hamburg earlier this year, will contest his second ATP Tour final after beating Benjamin Bonzi in three sets.
Fery said afterwards: “I am really happy to be in the final. Not the way I wanted it to end at all. I hope James will get well soon and rest up for next week. But I am very happy to be through.”
The 24-year-old is the first Brit to make the final at the North Carolina tournament, an ATP 250 event. Reaching the showpiece will take him to a new career high of 33rd in the world rankings after his strong run at Wimbledon carried into the North American hard-court season. He beat Duckworth at the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati before falling in a narrow three-set defeat to eighth seed Alex de Minaur.
Only eight weeks ago he was outside the top 100; now he is the British No 1, overtaking Cameron Norrie as a result of his run in Winston-Salem, and only narrowly missed out on a seeding at the upcoming US Open. He will face 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti, who reached the quarter-finals in New York last year, in the first round.