British hope Arthur Fery's dream run at his home Grand Slam came to an end as Alexander Zverev stormed to a 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory to reach the final.
German Zverev, aiming for back-to-back major trophies after his French Open success, made it to his fifth major title clash.
“Whether it's the champion or somebody who's won here 48 times, it's not going to be easy, no matter who it's against,” Zverev said.
“But I have to trust myself and I have to believe that I can win and that's what I'm going to do.”
Should Zverev win on Sunday, he will become just the seventh man in the Open Era to win the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double in the same year after Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.
Fery was hoping to become just the second wildcard to enter a major final after Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon in 2001.
Zverev took time to find his rhythm as both players traded breaks early. In the tiebreak, the German did not drop a point to win the first set.
Fery tried hard in the next set but found himself 1-4 down.
The Centre Court crowd rallied behind Fery, but Zverev tightened his grip on the match.
“I know that 99.99 per cent of the stadium wanted Arthur to win, but it was still such an incredible atmosphere,” Zverev said.
For Fery, it was nonetheless an unforgettable week and capped an incredible journey.
He had delayed going full-time, opting instead for the US college route. There, he majored in science, technology and society at Stanford University, where he became the top-ranked college player in the country.
With his latest runs at a major, Fery can aim higher.
Meanwhile, history will be created for the Czech Republic on Saturday when Karolina Muchova takes on compatriot Linda Noskova in the women's final.
Both players will be eyeing a maiden Grand Slam crown.
The central European nation is all set to produce a winner for the third time in four years at the All England Club, with the tournament set to extend a run of first-time women's champions to nine editions.
For Muchova, the title clash marks a return to the spotlight three years after her run to the French Open final. A wrist injury had temporarily stalled the progress of one of the women's game's most inventive shot-makers.
“We have great history of Czech tennis,” said the 29-year-old Muchova, who will aim to follow in the footsteps of Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and Barbora Krejcikova in 2024 to hoist the Venus Rosewater Dish.
“Definitely the fact that there's so many of us. Myself, when I was younger, looking up to the girls who were like maybe five years older than I was, you can see them doing so well. So it gave me the belief that I can as well do it.”
