A wonderful contest was brought to an awkward and sad end when a piercing scream during a match-point rally from someone in the crowd led Simona Halep to stop playing, handing Britain’s Johanna Konta a passage to the women’s semifinals with a 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4 win.
The contentious end denied Konta the celebration she deserved, after having come back to take a closely-fought second set and growing from strength to strength in the third, which she dominated.
Halep misses out
If Konta notched up a record, becoming the first British woman to reach a Wimbledon singles semifinal since Virginia Wade in 1978, Halep missed an achievement — winning the match would have made her World No. 1.
It was Halep who drew first blood with an early break in the first set, but Konta clawed her way back to level, taking the set to a tie-breaker during which a missed volley gave Halep a lead she built on to win 7-2.
The next set was evenly fought going on serve to 6-6 and the tie-breaker saw Halep up a mini-break and just two points away from a win.
But just when it seemed that it may be all over for Konta, she turned up the heat and reeled off the next three points, the last with a fine backhand.
From there on, there was no looking back and Konta began dictating most of the baseline rallies in the third set to the delight of the packed and partisan audience. She kept her head but her body language suggested a growing belief she could win.
Win she did, but not in the manner she or most of those in the audience would have liked.