Serena Williams is through to her 12th Wimbledon semi-final as she continues to close in on a record-equalling 24th grand slam singles crown.
Williams ended the brilliant grass-court run of fellow American Alison Riske with a hard-earned 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory over Ashleigh Barty’s fourth-round slayer in a rollercoaster quarter-final on Tuesday.
With a tour-best 14 grasscourt wins over the past month, Riske posed a serious threat and threatened to continue her giant-killing run after taking the second set from the seven-times champion.
After twice needing to rally from a service break down in the opening set, Williams had to pull out all stops to deny the 55th-ranked Riske, who was anything but overawed contesting her maiden grand slam quarter-final.
Seeded 11th this year after losing the 2018 final to Angelique Kerber, Williams needed 18 aces and six services breaks to finally finish off the 29-year-old underdog after two hours and one minute.
Desperate to match Margaret Court’s record 24 singles majors, the 37-year-old Williams will play either British 19th seed Johanna Konta or unseeded Czech Barbora Strycova on Thursday for a place in Saturday’s title decider.
Fellow former world No.1 Simona Halep earlier became the first woman into the semi-finals after ending Zhang Shuai’s great run.
Halep, the seventh seed, fought back from a service break down in the opening set to win 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 to advance to the last four for the first time in five years.
Ranked 50th in the world, Zheng had never previously won a match at Wimbledon, losing in the opening round five times.
But the Chinese flew out of the gates and threatened to take the first set.
“I fought hard in the first set, even if I knew I was 4-1 and she was hitting hard, I knew she would hit with a lot of power. I knew I would have to play aggressively and I did it great,” Halep said.
“I have energy, I feel fresh and confident and I am perhaps playing my best tennis on grass.”
Halep took full control of the match in the second set as she surged 5-1 ahead with two breaks and served out the match in one hour and 27 minutes.
The 2018 French Open champion will continue her campaign for a second grand slam title against either Czech Karolina Muchova or Ukrainian eighth seed Elina Svitolina in the final four.
“I will try to be my best version of myself in the semis,” Halep said.
