Johanna Konta beats third seed Simona Halep to become first British woman to reach Miami Open semi-finals
Konta completed a brilliant fightback after Halep served for the match to book her place in the last four where she will face Venus Williams
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Your support makes all the difference.Johanna Konta did not let her mind wander to the past as she became the first British women to make the semi-finals of the Miami Open.
Konta produced a gritty 3-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 win over third seed Simona Halep to reach her third semi-final of 2017, though she was staring defeat in the face with Halep serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set.
But a resilient British number one broke after being two points away from defeat, then won an epic tiebreak to level at 1-1 before running away with the deciding set.
It was not the first time Halep has capitulated against Konta with the finishing line in sight, as in their only previous meeting in Wuhan two years ago the Romanian inexplicably lost despite being 5-1 up in the final set.
That did not come into Konta's thinking, though, but went on to win anyway.
"At that point I didn't feel there was too much momentum on her end, although she was serving for the match at 5-4 I still felt that I was very much in it and there wasn't too much separating us in that second set," Konta told BT Sport 1.
"I just stayed very present and fought very hard for every point."
Halep's flop is not a feeling unknown to Konta, whose career prior to the last 18 months was plagued with an inability to get over the line.
But it was at the start of the match where the 25-year-old struggled against her Romanian opponent, who she is set to meet in the forthcoming Fed Cup tie next month.
Halep's solidity in defence and precision in attack had Konta on the ropes in the first set before the Brit's comeback.
"I just tried to find my rhythm and timing out there and also just try and hone in on what I was trying to achieve," Konta added. "She was also playing very well, so it was both ends of the spectrum.
"I think I did a good job in the first set of hanging in there and playing the few extra games and just worked really hard to claw myself back into it."
Whoever I'm playing, I'll have a battle on my hands that's for sure
Konta's second semi-final at this level - a Premier Mandatory event - will be against Venus Williams after she defeated world No 1 Angelique Kerber.
She said: "Whoever I'm playing, I'll have a battle on my hands that's for sure. I've played Venus and Angie a few times and I'm looking forward to playing either of them.
"Either of them will be a great opportunity for different reasons."
PA
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