Culture & Sports
15:15, 12-Jul-2017
World No.1 hopeful Halep stunned by Konta at Wimbledon
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By CGTN's Zhu Mandan
A marquee match-up at Wimbledon on Tuesday saw second-seeded Simona Halep take on local favorite Johanna Konta. Halep had the third chance in recent months to become the world number one, but faltered again at the All England Club.
Halep won the first set on a tiebreak and the world number one spot was tantalizingly close during another tie-breaker in the second. But Konta would strike back and nail the set with a cross court backhand, winning a standing ovation from the highly partisan crowd.
Great Britain's Johanna Konta plays a backhand in her match against Romanian Simona Halep in the women's quarter-finals of the 2017 Wimbledon championships, London on July 11, 2017. /VCG Photo
Great Britain's Johanna Konta plays a backhand in her match against Romanian Simona Halep in the women's quarter-finals of the 2017 Wimbledon championships, London on July 11, 2017. /VCG Photo
Konta, 26, went on to win 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 and become the first British woman to reach the singles semi-finals since 1978. Meanwhile, as a result of Halep's defeat, Czech Karolina Pliskova will replace Angelique Kerber as the world number one.
Konta will face Venus Williams in the semi-final, after the 37-year-old American beat French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia 6-3, 7-5.
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