Johanna Konta beat Romanian second seed Simona Halep in a thrilling match to become Britain’s first women’s Wimbledon semi-finalist since 1978.

Sixth seed Konta, 26, fought back to win 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 and match Virginia Wade’s feat of 39 years ago. With Wade watching from the Royal Box, Konta served superbly to win in two hours and 38 minutes and set up a semi-final clash against Venus Williams.

Konta is just two victories from matching Wade’s 1977 triumph and will take on five-time champion Williams on Thursday for a place in the final. Halep, 25, would have replaced Germany’s Angelique Kerber at the top of the rankings with victory over Konta, but Czech Karolina Pliskova will instead be the new world number one.

Konta has repeatedly spoken of the mental and tactical “process” she relies upon during her rise up the rankings, and it held up superbly under huge pressure.

She finished the match with 36 unforced errors to Halep’s nine, but trusted in an attacking game plan that produced 48 winners to 26.

And having coped with the tag of title favourite since she won her second-round match, Konta overcame an opponent on the brink of becoming world number one with impressive poise.

Konta has won three of her five previous meetings against Williams and is looking ahead to their sixth encounter.

Today’s Matches

Men’s Singles

Quarter Final

16 G. Muller Vs 7 M. Cilic

1 A. Murray Vs 24 S. Querrey

6 M. Raonic Vs 3 R. Federer

11 T. Berdych Vs 2 N. Djokovic