At the end of it all, Fery stood on Center Court with his hands on his hips, shaking his head in apparent disbelief as the crowd rose to its feet.
Swiss great Roger Federer, watching from the Royal Box, was among the thousands on Wimbledon center stage experiencing every moment of the thrilling final.
Such theater seemed unlikely when Dimitrov, who had turned the match in his favor after Fery’s superb opening set, took two leads in the fourth set.
But Fery, as he had done all week, refused to pull away and jumped into the air to celebrate after forcing a decision.
“For me, this was the story of the tournament: I was very close to losing in the last round and today,” Fery said.
“Breakthrough in the fourth round, just trying to keep fighting, have a good attitude and it paid off.
“I played really well with my back against the wall and it paid off today.”
Former world number three Dimitrov was aiming to reach the quarter-finals after his previous bid ended disastrously at this stage 12 months ago when he retired through injury two sets clear of eventual champion Jannik Sinner.
But Fery never wavered, even as tensions and expectations mounted, becoming just the sixth British player in the Open era to reach the Wimbledon men’s singles quarter-finals.
Having never gone beyond the second round at a major before, Feri will now face Italian ninth seed Flavio Cobolli for a place in the semi-finals on Wednesday.