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		</div><p>Barbora Strycova will face Serena Williams in her first grand slam semi-final after shocking British hope Johanna Konta at Wimbledon.</p>
<p>The 33-year-old from the Czech Republic came from 4-1 down in the first set to win 7-6 (5) 6-1 on Centre Court.</p>
<p>Strycova’s only other quarter-final appearance at a major tournament was here five years ago, but on Thursday she will get a shot at seven-time winner Williams for a place in the final.</p>
<p><em>“It sounds crazy. It’s happening but I can’t really believe it,”</em> she told the BBC.</p>
<p><em>“It was one of the best matches I’ve played here. I haven’t been playing on Centre Court so it was a special moment.</em></p>
<p><em>“It’s a great week to play (Williams) and a match I look forward to.”</em></p>
<h5><strong>Read:</strong> <a href="http://londonglossy.com/serena-williams-sends-ominous-warning-to-her-wimbledon-rivals/">Serena Williams sends ominous warning to her Wimbledon rivals</a></h5>
<p>Williams proved she is battle-hardened after coming through a thrilling three-setter in the all-American showdown against Alison Riske to reach her 12th semi-final in 19 appearances at the Championships.</p>
<p>Riske, unseeded and ranked 55, had knocked out world number one Ashleigh Barty 24 hours earlier, and she pushed Williams all the way.</p>
<p>But for Riske there was no reward despite five breaks of serve – converting every single break point she created – against the 23-time grand-slam winner who won 6-4 4-6 6-3.</p>
<p><em>“I just needed to just fight,”</em> admitted Williams.</p>
<p><em>“Alison, I mean, she played great throughout the whole tournament. She’s beaten so many amazing players, players that have had great years.</em></p>
<p><em>“She was not giving it to me. I needed to step up and take it. That’s what I had to do.”</em></p>
<p>Having been pegged back to 1-1 by the stubborn Riske, Williams seemed to find a second wind after tying her hair up, eventually wrapping up victory with her 19th ace.</p>
<p><em>“It was just in my way. I was missing a shot because it was in my face,”</em> she said.</p>
<p><em>“I was like, ‘this is not happening’. I just needed to get it out of the way, put the business bun up and just get to business.”</em></p>
<p>The second semi-final sees seventh seed Simona Halep face Elina Svitolina, seeded eighth.</p>
<p>Romanian Halep found herself 3-0 down in the opening set as China’s Shuai Zhang briefly threatened a shock.</p>
<p>But Halep recovered to take the first set on a tie-break and then raced through the second to win 7-6 (4) 6-1.</p>
<p>Halep said: <em>“I expected her to play so well, she beat me the last two times that we played.</em></p>
<p><em>“I was a little bit nervous before the match, a little bit stressed. I knew that she’s going to come and hit the balls very strong.</em></p>
<p><em>“Also when she hits them, the ball doesn’t bounce that much. It’s really tough to return.</em></p>
<p><em>“But I kept fighting. I knew that I have to be 100 per cent for every ball, then I will break her rhythm a little bit. It happened in the second set.”</em></p>
<p>Ukrainian Svitolina was a 7-5 6-4 winner over Czech Karolina Muchova to advance to her first grand-slam semi.</p>
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