Konta thrills home fans with quarterfinal victory

The dream run continues for Johanna Konta.

Before this year, she’d won just one match in five visits to the All England Club.

Now she’s into the semifinals.

The 26-year-old became the first British woman through to the last four since Virginia Wade in 1978, after beating Simona Halep 6-7(2) 7-6(5) 6-4 in a high-quality match featuring searing baseline rallies and showcasing the two players’ exceptional athleticism.

It was her third thriller of the Championships – after beating Donna Vekic 10-8 in the third set in the second round and in the last 16 seeing off Caroline Garcia in a three-set tussle, she battled Halep for two hours and 38 minutes before prevailing.

Konta will next line up against five-time champion Venus Williams, who earlier on Tuesday beat French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.

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“I think what Venus and her sister have given our sport is absolutely tremendous. The way they’ve elevated women’s tennis is truly inspiring. So I feel very excited and very humbled to be sharing the court with her again,” Konta said.

“We’ve had a few battles in the past. She’s got the better of me the last time we played (in Rome), so I’m really looking forward to playing her.”

Konta demonstrated beneath a closed roof on Centre Court that aggression will more often than not win out against consistency and defence on grass.

Error prone early, she trailed 4-1 and although she closed the gap, Halep dominated the subsequent tiebreak.

But as the match progressed, Konta appeared more comfortable and relaxed on the big stage and began to connect powerfully with the ball more often and more effectively.

Her serve, such a weapon throughout 2017, remained dependable and after dropping serve in the second game of the match, she was never broken again.

Just two points from defeat in the second-set tiebreak, Konta, buoyed by the crowd, summoned two mighty strikes from the baseline to force errors from Halep, extending the match to a third set.

She further electrified the full house when in the fifth game she broke the Romanian’s serve to edge ahead 3-2 – an advantage she would not relinquish.

Serving for a semifinal place, Konta played an assured, clear-headed game, belting a pair of winners to earn two match points at 40-15.

Sadly, on the next point, a spectator screamed from the stands mid-rally, completely disrupting Halep during her swing – she pulled up on it and sent her forehand into the net. She shot an incredulous look at chair umpire Kader Nouni while Konta also looked to him, robbed of the elation of victory given she half-expected the point to be replayed.

But it wasn’t. And she was through.

“I guess to be in the semifinals of my home slam, and to do that in front of a full Centre Court, I mean, it’s pretty special,” Konta said.

“I think the level of tennis that both of us played today, it was just a tremendous match. So I think just to be a part of a match like that again. I’ve been very fortunate this Championships, I’ve had two of those now, I feel very lucky.”