Johanna Konta became the first British woman to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in 39 years as the world No 7 fought back to beat Simona Halep 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4 on Tuesday in a thoroughly gripping match.

The Romanian had her chances, especially in the second set tie-break after she secured a mini-break to go up 5-4 with an opportunity to close out the match. However, the lead didn’t last for long as the Australia-born Konta equalled the tie-break at five-all before closing it out on her own terms at 7-5. Meanwhile, Venus Williams, at 37, became the oldest Wimbledon semi-finalist for 23 years as the five-time champion brushed aside French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 7-5.

Advertisement

Williams’ 73-minute masterclass on Centre Court made her the most senior player to reach the last four since Martina Navratilova in 1994, and will now face Konta in a mouth-watering last-four clash. Garbine Muguruza continued her fine run of form as she powered into her second Wimbledon semi-final in the last three years with an emphatic 6-3, 6-4 win over Russian seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova on Tuesday.

In the men’s draw, three-time champion Novak Djokovic overcame an injury scare to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the ninth time and then lashed out at the Centre Court, claiming a hole has opened up on the famous surface.

From the sidelines

  • Andy Murray recalled his 2005 debut at Wimbledon when he admitted he was pretty much naive about everything. “I was enjoying pizza for dinner before facing some of the best players in the world. I was staying in the basement of a house in Wimbledon village with my mum, my brother, and [girlfriend, now wife] Kim stayed there a little bit. We just walked down the hill to the All England Club most of the time,” the defending champion was quoted as saying by the BBC.
  • During the tense match between Simona Halep and Johanna Konta, one Centre Court ticket-holder was seen easing the tension by playing with a Rubik’s Cube.  
  • Hardy rain-soaked British fans sat on the soggy Aorangi Terrace slopes joyously waved their umbrellas in the air as they watched home favourite Johanna Konta on the giant screen.  

Quotable quotes

  • “As a defending champion in 1979, my first match was on Centre Court, next one was on Court One, then Court Two, I ended up on Court Four. This has been going on for a long time. The top guys never see the outside courts. It needs to change.”– Martina Navratilova on the Wimbledon scheduling row.  
  • “Fair or not, that’s Wimbledon and they can do whatever they want.” – Goran Ivanisevic’s take on the court placings controversy.  
  • “It’s beautiful to be all ages.” – Venus Williams shrugging off her 37 years.  
  • “The same umpire gave my coach a warning last year for telling me, ‘Vamos, vamos’.”– Svetlana Kuznetsova angry that her quarter-final opponent Garbine Muguruza was not warned for ‘coaching’.  
  • “Not really. Maybe I was very small, or also I was watching more her sister playing the Grand Slam finals.” – Jelena Ostapenko struggling to recall any of Venus Williams’s five Wimbledon titles. Ostapenko is 17 years younger than the American.  
  • “Impressive. If you look at Andy walking around, he looks pretty sore.” – 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt on how stiff-legged title-holder Andy Murray plays through the pain-barrier.  
  • “Roger [Federer] and Rafael Nadal, if they had bad blood, would it make their rivalry any less special?” – 1989 French Open winner Michael Chang on whether tennis could do with some more bitter grudges between players.  

Number crunching

23 – Years since the Wimbledon crowd last saw a British woman in the quarter-finals: Jo Durie in 1984.

Advertisement

7 – Countries represented in the women’s quarter-finals: Britain, Latvia, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain and the United States.

5 – The highest number of men aged 30 or over to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals in the Open era.

Royal box watch

In the best seats and keeping dry under the roof were ballet star Darcey Bussell, singer Elie Goulding, coffee magnate Giuseppe Lavazza, 1977 Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade, former England Test cricket captain Alastair Cook and floor exercise and pommel horse reigning Olympic champion Max Whitlock.