Wimbledon 2017: Johanna Konta '˜excited and humbled' by home support as she gets ready to face up to Williams

Konta battled back to win a pulsating encounter with Simona Halep 6-7 (2/7) 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 to become the first woman from these shores to make the last four of the singles in SW19 since Virginia Wade in 1978.

The British No 1 has earned a match with Venus Williams, the resurgent 37-year-old and five-time Wimbledon winner, and on this evidence many will rate her chances highly.

Halep lost her way to lose the French Open final to Jelena Ostapenko last month and this defeat means she surrendered the chance to become world No 1, a position that will be taken up by Karolina Pliskova on Monday.

But the Romanian could not be accused of another meltdown on Centre Court.

Konta won it, with her commitment to an aggressive baseline game and a mental fortitude that these days makes her one of the toughest competitors on the tour.

This result matches her best previous run at a grand slam, when she reached the semi-finals of last year’s Australian Open, and she now has her eyes on ending Britain’s 40-year wait for a female singles champion.

“I’ve dreamed of success in every slam, but I think it makes it more special because it is home,” Konta said.

“I do get that home support, which I don’t get anywhere else. In that sense, I guess it makes it that much sweeter.

“In terms of the home support I feel, I feel very excited and very humbled by it. When you get a massive crowd of people cheering, making that sort of noise in a stadium, you do get goosebumps.”

At times the crowd were overly zealous, with Halep twice protesting to umpire Kader Nouni about spectators shouting during points.

The second came on match point and caused a particularly awkward finale as one fan screamed prematurely, prompting Halep to stop and pat a forehand into the net.

“I thought he was going to repeat the point,” Halep said. “I think it’s normal to repeat the point when someone is screaming like that.”

There was also a hint of the animosity that soured these two players’ Fed Cup match in April, when Halep accused Konta of gamesmanship for taking a 20-minute break following taunts from the crowd.

Konta again left the court here, this time for a six-minute toilet break before the start of the third set, to which an irritated Halep asked Nouni how long her opponent could stay absent.

“She does that all the time,” Halep said afterwards. “I cannot change because there is no rule.”

Williams ended the winning run of French Open champion Ostapenko at 11 grand slam matches with a 6-3 7-5 victory.

The other semi-final will pit 2016 French Open champion Garbine Muguruza against Magdalena Rybarikova. 2015 runner-up Muguruza eased past experienced Kuznetsova 6-3 6-4.

Rybarikova becomes the latest outsider to make a run to the last four of a slam, with the world No 87 defeating Coco Vandeweghe 6-3 6-3. The Slovakian upset one-time title favourite Pliskova in round two and has kept her remarkable run going.