Johanna Konta battled back from the brink to win a three-set thriller against Simona Halep and become Britain's first women's singles semi-finalist at Wimbledon since 1978.
It is 39 years since Virginia Wade reached the last four at the All England Club and Konta now stands just two wins away from matching Wade’s more notable feat of a year earlier, when she was crowned the Wimbledon champion.
The second-seeded Romanian shaded the early Centre Court exchanges, pouncing on errors and breaking serve to lead, and Konta lost the first set on Centre Court before being was two points from defeat in the second.
But with cheers and cries of “C’mon Jo” echoing around the roofed-in arena, sixth seed Konta fought back and instead surged back to win 6-7 (2/7) 7-6 (7/5) 6-4.
She now faces Venus Williams in the semi-finals.
“I definitely feel that age is not a factor with her, she a tremendous champion,” said Konta of Williams to the BBC afterwards. “I’m excited to share the court with her again.”
Guardian services
