Britain’s Johanna Konta battled to a thrilling three-set victory over 2nd seed Simona Halep to become the first British woman to reach Wimbledon’s singles semi-final since Virginia Wade in 1978.
7th seed Konta came back from a set down and two points from defeat in the second set, to win 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 on Center Court.
“I knew against Simona she wasn’t going to give me much for free and I had to create my own chances and I took a few of them,”
Flying the flag.@JoKonta91 beats Simona Halep 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4 to continue her bid to become Britain’s first female champion since 1977 pic.twitter.com/HH9NMUScyT
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 11, 2017
“I felt consistent in my approach and in my general being out there. I continued to trust in myself.”, Konta explained after the epic victory.”
37 year-old Venus Williams won her 100th Wimbledon match to knock out Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, becoming the oldest women singles semi-finalist since Martina Navratilova in 1994.
The five-time Wimbledon champion dispatched 20-year-old Ostapenko 6-3 7-5 in 1hr and 13 minutes to set up her 10th Wimbledon semi-final, a much anticipated battle with home favourite Johanna Konta.
Speaking shortly after the match, Williams said: “I feel quite capable, to be honest, and powerful,”
“So whatever age that is, as long as I feel like that, then I know that I can contend for titles every time.”
20 Championships played. 10 semi-finals reached.@Venuseswilliams beats Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 7-5 to move within one match of the final pic.twitter.com/1ahBgXZlPf
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 11, 2017
Elsewhere, Spaniard Muguruza defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets, 6-3 6-4, in 75 minutes, to face 87th seed Magdalena Rybarikov in the other semi-final on Thursday.
