Johanna Konta did more than win a tennis match at Wimbledon on Tuesday. In the performance of her life – which may well lead to many others – she turned doubters into believers and conquering the nerves that once threatened to strangle her talent, beat the world No2, Simona Halep, in three sets of the highest quality to become the first British woman semi-finalist here since Virginia Wade in 1978.

Wade was on Centre Court to witness the gripping 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4 quarter-final win by the No6 seed and like the rest of the crowd was aware that two more wins would deliver Konta an even bigger slice of history: the Wimbledon title that Wade secured 40 years ago.

Wimbledon 2017: Johanna Konta beats Halep to reach semi-finals – live! Read more

To give herself a shot at the Venus Rosewater dish Konta has to beat the ageless Venus Williams in the semi-finals, knowing the 37-year-old American looked back to her best in beating the young French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 7-5. “Age is not a factor,” Konta said in the immediate aftermath. “She’s a tremendous champion. I feel privileged to share a court with her.”

Konta, who beat Williams on hardcourt in Miami this year, then lost to her on the clay of Rome, added later: “I’ve never played her on grass, so that will be a new challenge. The way Venus and her sister have elevated women’s tennis is truly inspiring. I feel very excited and very humbled.”

In a rare insight, Konta then shared her feelings about her former mind coach, the late Juan Coto. “Juan was a tremendous influence on me. That went beyond my tennis career. He approached his work with me in a very holistic manner. It was more about me as a human being. He did a tremendous job with me in working on my happiness as a person, as a human being, dealing with life in general. He looked to help me enjoy something that I’ve loved since I was a little girl.

“ I’d like to think that my success is my own, and, actually, that’s what he said as well. I do the work. I bear the consequences of everything that I do, the wins and the losses.”

As for her opponent in Tuesday’s quarter-final, Halep brought out the very best in Konta, who has blossomed beyond all expectation. “It’s a little bit surreal,” the Briton said. “It’s incredible how quickly things go in tennis. I’m still digesting things. I felt very clear on what I was trying to achieve out there, regardless of whether it was going my way or not. I knew she was really not going to give me much for free. I had to create my own chances, and I was fortunate to take a few of them.”

Indeed she did, breaking the tough Romanian twice from eight chances. Her serve was solid, some of her groundstrokes blistering and her composure as impressive as at any time in her career.

Konta, at 26, has become the player that Laura Robson – still only 23 – often was and might yet be again: an uncompromising hitter whose core strategy is to drill the ball deep, shot after shot, and grind her opponent down. Robson probably hit the ball harder at her peak before injury cut her down, but Konta has a more mechanical and reliable swing that brings her winners through attrition rather than spectacularly.

All of her skills and a few lingering wisps of her old vulnerability were on show. However, it was not the occasion that induced fault lines in her attack, but her wonderful opponent, whose discipline kept her unforced errors to only nine over two hours and 38 minutes. This was an unmitigated battle of muscle, endurance and courage in the shot. Neither of them held back for a second.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Johanna Konta returns to Simona Halep during their women’s singles quarter-final match. Photograph: Tom

As much as it might have been an optical illusion, the hitting between them, within their own parameters of power, seemed more venomous than that in the opening match between Novak Djokovic and Adrian Mannarino. In that men’s fourth-round match, the emphasis was on placement above power. In this women’s three-setter, each punch was loaded for a knockout, hit flat and fast across the lowest point of the net.

Variety is not just the spice of life, it is the best way to induce doubt on a tennis court. Roger Federer was amazed, for instance, that his young doppelgänger, Grigor Dimitrov, did not serve and volley once in the entirety of their match on Monday – or the tournament for that matter.

Here, there was not a hint of a drop shot until the third point of the 12th game, 43 minutes into the match, even though there were several openings before then. Not many followed. Both coaches, Wim Fissette for Konta and Halep’s Darren Cahill, are acknowledged tacticians; maybe they also see ripping the ball to shreds as the safest route to victory.

Reinforcing that suspicion, the relentless power-punching of Konta earned her a break-back to love in the 25th minute, and she kept it up all the way to the tie-break. A couple of elementary mistakes cost her the set. Would she fold or fight?

Her challenge was not just subduing her wired-up opponent but also her own nerves. It is a task she has managed well in two close wins against Halep on the Tour, and she diligently worked her way back into the match. There were moments of anxiety in the fifth game as she looked like blowing a 40-love lead before staying ahead in the serving cycle. Halep fought doggedly to hold for four-all.

The match was building to the perfect climax, Konta hitting fiercely in nearly every exchange to keep it alive, Halep defending with desperate brilliance. Konta’s serve had opened the door for her and she was finishing points clinically, down the line after forcing Halep wide, keeping her own lines straight rather than angled. She got to deuce twice on Halep’s shaky serve in the pivotal ninth game with some quality returning, but blew the chance of taking the set with a forehand volley that drifted long.

The noise when they went to the second tie-break was amplified to the point of hysteria under the roof. Konta could afford no slip-ups; Halep, of course, wanted to end it here. Konta bullied her across the baseline in a high-level rally for set point and after an hour and 50 minutes, served out, bringing the stadium to a pitch of excitement normally seen in the closing moments of a final.

Konta’s demeanour looked controlled in the deciding set; Halep, though, might have cast an idle thought back to blowing the final of the French Open when a set, 3-0 and game point up against Ostapenko. That’s a tough memory to erase.

Venus Williams ends Jelena Ostapenko’s dream run in Wimbledon quarter-finals Read more

She had the crowd to fight, too. With rain having wiped out the rest of the programme, it was as if the combined psychic energy of Wimbledon was now trained on the hot house of Centre Court, and it was overwhelmingly in favour of Konta.

Halep handed Konta the break in the fifth game with a weary forehand. The sense of expectation in the crowd could almost be sniffed on the moist and captured air inside the arena. Halep looked buried in frustration, her hitherto magnificent defensive game finally fraying at the edges.

The end was weird. Halep almost stopping the shot as some fool screamed prematurely, before dumping a backhand low into the net. After exchanging quizzical looks, winner and loser embraced at the net in acknowledgment of each other’s excellence. This rivalry is far from over.

“That was an amazing quarter-final match,” John McEnroe said. He has uttered a few flip and foolish things about women players lately, but that was as accurate as any of Konta’s superlative groundstrokes on a memorable afternoon under the roof on the biggest stage in tennis.