Johanna Konta reaches Wimbledon semi-finals with victory over Simona Halep

Johanna Konta has been rewriting the British tennis history books ever since she made her big breakthrough two years ago and the world No 7 served notice here that she has no intention of stopping now.

By beating Simona Halep 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 after more than two and a half hours in a quarter-final of the highest quality, Konta became the first British woman to reach the Wimbledon singles semi-finals since Virginia Wade in 1978. Having knocked out the world No 2, Konta underlined her status as the bookmakers’ tournament favourite and is now just two wins away from becoming the first British woman to win here since Wade in 1977.

Konta will face Venus Williams, five times a champion here, in Thursday’s semi-finals. With Andy Murray meeting Sam Querrey in the men’s quarter-finals on Wednesday, it is developing into a remarkable week for British tennis.

This victory continued Konta’s progress past a series of landmarks. It guarantees that she will climb into the world’s top five in next week’s updated world rankings list. Since the women’s world rankings were introduced in 1975 only three other Britons – Virginia Wade, Sue Barker and Jo Durie – have reached the top five.

Last year Konta became the first British woman to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open since Barker in 1977 and the first to make the last four at any Grand Slam tournament since Jo Durie at the US Open in 1983. Meanwhile Halep’s defeat means that Karolina Pliskova will replace Angelique Kerber at the top of the world rankings next week.

With Wade watching from the Royal Box, Konta delivered an outstanding performance to beat an opponent who is arguably the best all-round player in the women’s game today. Halep, a superb athlete who chases down more balls than anyone, made just eight unforced errors in the whole match, compared with 36 by Konta. However, an equally telling statistic was Konta’s count of 47 winners compared with Halep’s 26.

This result might also confirm some of the doubts over whether Halep has it in her to handle pressure at the highest levels. Last month the 25-year-old Romanian let slip a 3-0 lead over Jelena Ostapenko in the final of the French Open. The pressure here, in front of a noisy Centre Court crowd giving passionate support to the home player, appeared to tell as the world No 2 wilted in the closing stages.

Konta, who was the first Briton to play in the women’s quarter-finals here since 1984, gave a formidable display of controlled aggression. Although Halep served well for much of the match, Konta served with greater power and, for long periods, with greater consistency. She had to defend only two break points in the whole match.

For the fourth time in her five rounds here this year Konta reversed the result of a recent defeat. Su-Wei Hsieh (first round), Donna Vekic (second round) and Caroline Garcia (fourth round) had all got the better of Konta earlier this year, while Halep had beaten her in the Fed Cup in April.

The latter defeat, however, had been on Romanian clay, which clearly favoured Halep, twice a runner-up at the French Open. Konta, who had beaten her in their only two previous tour-level meetings on hard courts, has a big-hitting game which is better suited to faster courts, although until last week she had won only one match in her five visits to Wimbledon.

Halep, nevertheless, had reached the semi-finals here in 2014 and the quarter-finals in 2016 and had not dropped a set in her first four matches here this year.

Because of rain the Centre Court roof had been closed - for the first time this year – since the start of the day’s play. In the still conditions both women struck the ball with impressive power from the start, although Konta seemed almost too eager to be the aggressor in the opening stages.

With Konta over-hitting, Halep broke serve at the first attempt and went 3-0 up, but the Briton fought back in the seventh game as the Romanian dropped her serve to love in the face of some ferocious returns.

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Until the end of the first set Konta served beautifully. Remarkably, the Briton hit the target with 29 of her first 30 first serves, which she was hitting at speeds of up to 111mph.

In the first tie-break, however, Konta’s serve started to waver and Halep immediately seized on her opportunity. The Romanian never looked back after going 2-1 up with a stunning backhand cross-court winner at the end of a thrilling rally. Konta fluffed a high forehand volley on the sixth point, but for the most part the Briton was outrallied as Halep won the tie-break 7-2.

Konta’s response could not be faulted. The second set was tight throughout, but it was the Briton who created the best opportunities. Halep saved two break points in the second game and two more in the eighth, her serve getting her out of trouble on both occasions.

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Halep went 3-1 up in the second tie-break and was two points from victory when she served at 5-4, but Konta held firm. A thumping forehand took the Briton to set point at 6-5 and she converted it with a bold backhand into a corner, to an eruption of noise from the Centre Court crowd.

Before the start of the third set Konta took a lengthy toilet break while Halep was left on court to ponder her situation. Konta saved a break point in the second game of the decider, but it soon became clear that the Briton was handling the pressure better than her opponent.

Konta broke to go 3-2 up and went on to serve out for victory, though the match ended in curious circumstances.On the first match point a spectator screamed out as Konta picked up a shot on the baseline, upon which Halep all but stopped playing and put a limp forehand into the net.

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“I think a woman at my end screamed,” Konta said afterwards. “I think she got over-excited about a deep ball that Simona had hit. I was actually hitting my ball so I think it affected me more than my opponent. I think it was just emotions running.”

Halep had no complaints about the crowd, saying they had been “very and very fair” but was unhappy about the last point. She said she had asked the umpire to order the point to be replayed but he had refused.