London - Johanna Konta produced a thrilling fightback to see off her Romanian opponent and keep alive her hopes of becoming the first British woman sine 1977 to win the ladies’ title.
Venus Williams became the oldest Wimbledon semi-finalist for 23 years as the five-time champion brushed aside French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko, while Garbine Muguruza powered past Svetlana Kuznetsova to make it back to the last four on Tuesday.
Konta now faces a potentially explosive last four clash with Venus Williams on Centre Court Wednesday as she looks to secure a place in the final. Konta started slowly and was broken in her first game – before she broke back to force the first set into a tie-break. But too often she lost her composure on the vita points and her Romanian opponent was able to take advantage to move one-set up.
The British number one looked more settled in the second set, although she made a series of unforced errors that stopped her from imposing herself on Halep. Twice she created two break points, only to squander them and eventually the set went to another tie-break. This time, however, she held her nerve on the big points and took the set to level as the home crowd went wild.
Williams' 73-minute masterclass on Centre Court clinched a 6-3, 7-5 victory that made her the most senior player to reach the semi-finals since Martina Navratilova in 1994. World number 11 Williams, beaten in this year's Australian Open final, was knocked out in the 2016 semi-finals and is chasing a first major title since winning Wimbledon in 2008. Williams' victory equalled her sister Serena's total of 86 main draw match victories at Wimbledon, the most among any active player.
She will climb back into the top 10 thanks to her Wimbledon run, but breaking Serena's record to become the tournament's oldest champion in the Open era is her sole focus. "I love this game. That's why I put in the effort and the time. It's a beautiful game. It's been so good to me," Venus said. "The competition keeps you growing. You have to get better if you want to stay relevant. I love the challenge. It's not always easy dealing with the pressure. It's only you that can have the answer."
Twenty years after making her Wimbledon debut, Venus was playing in her 100th singles match at the All England Club, while Ostapenko was in only her eighth. That gulf in experience was immediately apparent when Venus broke in the second game and cruised through the first set in serene fashion. Having stunned the tennis world by becoming the first unseeded player to win the French Open last month, Ostapenko was riding an 11-match winning streak at the majors.
But Ostapenko, 20, was the youngest player left in the tournament and Venus has scythed through the draw by dispatching a series of opponents almost half her age, many of whom idolised the seven-time Grand Slam champion when they were growing up.
Muguruza powered into her second Wimbledon semi-final in the last three years with an emphatic 6-3, 6-4 win over Russian seventh seed Kuznetsova. Since winning her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open last year, Muguruza has struggled to return to the top and this is her first major semi-final since that Roland Garros triumph. Muguruza, beaten by Serena in the 2015 Wimbledon final, will face Coco Vandeweghe or Magdalena Rybarikova in the last four.
The 23-year-old is being coached by Conchita Martinez, who became the only Spanish woman to win Wimbledon in 1994, and the lessons appear to have done the trick. "I played good. I'm trying not to think a lot, just go for it and play my game. I'm happy it worked out," Muguruza said. "It seems far away since I last made the final here. I'm a completely different player. It means a lot to make the semi-finals again, my breakthrough was here."