The Princess of Wales was on a roving mission to follow the fortunes of the British players on Thursday and, though she was not long detained on No 1 Court, where Katie Swan went down in straight sets to Madison Keys, there was more to cheer on court 18 as Arthur Fery \u2013 born in France but raised a stone\u2019s throw from the All England Club \u2013 reached the third round for the first time with a four-set defeat of Otto Virtanen.<\/p>\n
Fery lost the first set when losing his serve for the only time in the match at 5-6, and then suffered a nosebleed shortly afterwards. But he reeled off the next three with relative ease to win 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-3 and advance to a third-round meeting with Zizou Bergs.<\/p>\n
Fery\u2019s family home is 10 minutes away from the grounds, which means he can sleep in his own bed during the tournament rather than it being just another stop in a tennis pro\u2019s nomadic path around the globe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really nice,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have that luxury very often. We\u2019re always in hotels, Airbnbs or apartments. It\u2019s been nice staying at home for Queen\u2019s, staying at home for Wimbledon<\/a> now, having family around. It feels like I\u2019m at home, and the drive\u2019s not long.\u201d<\/p>\n Arthur Fery celebrates his victory over Otto Virtanen. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Swan, meanwhile, was swept away by Keys in front of royalty in the opening set, giving up her serve twice on the way to a 6-1 loss, but had her moments in a strange second set which included five consecutive breaks before the No 26 seed finally served it out, 6-4.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m disappointed that I couldn\u2019t sneak it into a third set,\u201d Swan said. \u201cBut I think I can take a lot from this experience and hopefully, next time I play on a court like that, I can go into that with a bit more confidence and knowing that I can compete with these top girls.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve loved my time here this week. It\u2019s quite surreal to think I was playing on No 1 Court today, and 14 months ago I was playing a 15K in Sharm el-Sheikh. I have come quite a long way, it\u2019s been gradual and steady. That\u2019s the goal from here, to keep building my ranking week to week.\u201d<\/p>\n