London: Johanna Konta sealed a Wimbledon semi-final spot on Tuesday in a feast of tension-filled tennis, powering past Simona Halep 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to become the first British woman to reach the last four in almost 40 years.

The second-seeded Romanian did pounce on errors and broke serve to lead 3-0, as the Briton struggled to keep her searing groundstrokes in court.

But with cheers and cries of “C’mon Jo” echoing around the roofed-in Centre Court, sixth seed Konta fought back, cranking up her serve and winning eight straight points to draw level at 4-4.

Halep won the first set on a tie-break with Konta, having squandered a clutch of break points, returning the favour in the second.

The intensity moved up a notch in the third set, as the Briton hit harder and the Romanian tightened her defence, before Konta broke in the fifth game and held her nerve to serve the match out.

Virginia Wade was the last British woman to reach the semi-finals in 1978.

Meanwhile, Venus Williams handed out another lesson to one of the young upstarts, when she beat Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 7-5 to become the oldest women’s semi-finalist in 23 years.

The five-time champion, who turned 37 last month, tamed the big-hitting Latvian with a rock-solid performance under the Centre Court roof.

Venus , who had already disposed of a 21-year-old and two teenagers en route to her 38th Grand Slam quarter-final, barely flinched against the 20-year-old French Open champion. The American and most recent, Grand Slam singles title, broke Ostapenko’s serve in the second game and was untroubled in taking the opener in 29 minutes. She sealed it when her 13th-seeded opponent swished at thin air on an attempted forehand service return.

Ostapenko was subdued as Venus secured an early break in the second set, although she got a helping hand back into the match when Williams double-faulted to drop serve.

That had the effect of lighting the Ostapenko fuse and she began to look threatening as she held serve to love with an ace to move 4-3 ahead on a gloomy Centre Court.

Venus had to serve to stay in the second set at 4-5 and was relieved to see an Ostapenko return land narrowly wide at 30-30 before squaring the set. Ostapenko felt the pressure in the next game when a hurried forehand into the net gave Venus the break and the veteran needed no second invitation, holding serve to love to claim victory.

Unseeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia defeated American 24th seed Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-3 to make it to the semis. (AGENCIES)