We witnessed déjà vu, albeit a mild case, at Wimbledon on Tuesday in Halep’s 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4 loss to Johanna Konta in the quarterfinals. After taking the first set, the No. 2 seed couldn’t finish off the home favorite in a tiebreaker. Konta leveled the match and took the third to advance to her first semifinal at the Championships.
The Centre Court crowd was in a predictable frenzy at the conclusion of the match, as the 26-year-old became the first British woman to reach the Wimbledon semifinals since Virginia Wade—who happened to be sitting in the Royal Box during the match—made it to the final in 1978.
Had Halep won, she would have been No. 1 in the world for the first time. Instead, Karolina Pliskova—who lost in the second round—will take over the top spot from Angelique Kerber, who was beat by Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round.
Next up for Konta in the semifinals on Thursday is 10-time Wimbledon semifinalist and five-time champion Venus Williams, who bested Ostapenko in straight sets earlier in the day. Konta has taken three of five matches against Williams in their careers, but they've split their two meetings in 2017.
