Britain’s Arthur Fery has reached his first ATP Tour final after opponent James Duckworth retired because of injury at the Winston-Salem Open.

The 24-year-old was leading 6-4 2-1 in the semi-final when his Australian opponent, who called for a medical timeout after the first set, forfeited the match.

Fery is the first Briton to reach the final of the ATP 250 event and his progress continues after his surprise run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

He has also reached a career high of 33 in the world and overtaken Cameron Norrie to become British number one.

“I am really happy to be in the final,” said Fery.

“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.”

Fery faces Ignacio Buse in Saturday’s final in North Carolina after the 22-year-old beat France’s Benjamin Bonzi 6-2 4-6 6-1.

Peru’s Buse, who is ranked 36th in the world, will be aiming to win his second title of the season after beating Tommy Paul at the ATP 500 event in Hamburg in May.

Only eight weeks ago, before Fery’s remarkable run to the Wimbledon semi-finals, he was ranked outside the top 100.

His maiden ATP final appearance against Buse comes before next month’s US Open, where he just missed out on being seeded.

Fery has been drawn against Italian 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti in the opening round at Flushing Meadows in New York.

Wrexham’s winless start to the season was extended to four games in all competitions after they were beaten 2-1 by Birmingham at the Racecourse Ground.

Centre-back Phil Neumann – who has never scored more than two goals in a single season – scored both Blues goals, either side of a Callum Doyle equaliser.

It was the ideal response from Chris Davies’ side, following their 6-1 hammering at the hands of Brentford in the Carabao Cup in midweek.

The Blues deservedly established a lead after 13 minutes, when Neumann headed in Alex Cochrane’s header at the far post, but few could deny it should have been 3-0 at the break.

Before the opener, Ollie Rathbone was in the right place at the right time to block August Priske’s header from point-blank range, while after it, Jay Stansfield stepped on to Carlos Vicente’s neat cut-back and inexplicably powered a shot past the right-hand post when it looked easier to score.

Wrexham generated just 0.22 xG in the first half, but came out with more bite after the break and were rewarded when Lewis O’Brien’s dipping cross was helped past James Beadle by Callum Doyle.

But the lead lasted less than 10 minutes. Priske launched a long throw in from the right and recycled it when the first delivery was cleared, finding Neumann, who glanced a header past Anthony Patterson.

Wrexham upped the tempo as the final whistle approached, but they could not find the goal that would have haunted Birmingham.

The key moments from the Racecourse Ground…

• 7: OFF THE LINE! August Priske has the goal gaping in front of him, but he heads at Wrexham’s Ollie Rathbone.
• 13: GOAL! Alex Cochrane sends an inswinging corner to the far post, where Phil Neumann heads over the line from close range.
• 23: HUGE MISS! Carlos Vicente chops the ball to Jay Stansfield on his right after an overload, but the forward blasts over the bar.
• 37: SAVE! Wrexham’s best chance of the first half. Danny Imray drives in from the right, with his deflected shot well saved by a diving James Beadle.
• 54: GOAL! Lewis O’Brien’s brilliant cross dips perfectly for Callum Doyle to equalise.
• 63: GOAL! Priske recycles a clearance and finds Neumann, who glances in his second of the night.
• 77: SO CLOSE! Let-off for Birmingham. Kieffer Moore’s header is not held by James Beadle and only some brave defending from Christoph Klarer prevents a killer Wrexham connection.

Parkinson bemoans “softest two goals conceded in all my time at Wrexham”

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson speaking on Sky Sports:

“The two goals we conceded are two of the softest goals we’ve conceded in all my time here – and that includes being in the National League. You can’t concede goals like that and expect to win a game of football.

“You’ve got to defend the box – it’s as simple as that – in any division, but particularly the Championship we’ve got to defend our box better, head the ball out, defend set-plays.

“I thought we lacked conviction in our play tonight in the first half, I’ve got to be honest. Second half, I thought we were better, got the goal back, and that’s why I’m so annoyed with the second goal because we’d started really well, got back in the game.

“We almost looked like a team of everyone looking around the pitch for someone else to go and make it happen, rather than taking responsibility as individuals.

“In football, you can’t feel sorry for yourself and I felt we looked like that tonight for some reason. You cannot feel sorry for yourself because no one else is going to help you, you can only help yourself. We’ve got to look long and hard at ourselves and come out fighting at Millwall.”

Davies: We looked like a team

Birmingham manager Chris Davies speaking on Sky Sports:

“It was a really good night for us. I thought we started the game really well, just like you want to away from home. We got on the front foot, had some moments we could’ve been maybe a couple of goals up at half-time, so I was really pleased with that.

“I think we looked like a team, that’s the main thing. We looked like a real team, and we had to be to come to a place like Wrexham and play a really solid, really good side, especially at home. It’s a big, big win.”

Do Wrexham need to sign more players before Deadline Day?

Jobi McAnuff on Sky Sports Football:

“They possibly need a more dominant centre-half, which is something they had during that run through the leagues they had.

“Looking at tonight [2-1 defeat to Birmingham] sometimes it takes a performance or scenarios like this to maybe jog the hierarchy.

“One thing I’m sure Phil Parkinson will say is that he’s been backed to the hilt by that ownership group in terms of what he feels he needs to move the club on.

“I’m sure they will feel there’s enough there, but I’m sure with Phil, questions will be getting asked in the next few days.”

What the result means and next fixtures…

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