Venus in semis at Wimbledon

LONDON (AP):

Venus Williams' mother could not stop smiling and laughing. She had just watched her 37-year-old daughter reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the 10th time and, well, the whole thing was just a bit hard to believe.

"She says, 'I love my job!' and she means it. I guess she's kind of like a boxer: People think it's time for her to quit because she's too old," Oracene Price said after leaving Centre Court, where the roof was shut because of rain yesterday. "But she keeps getting back in the ring - and she seems to be doing pretty well. This is really amazing."

Enjoying a career renaissance deep into her 30s, Williams rode a strong serve that produced eight aces, imposing returns and her court coverage of old to a 6-3, 7-5 victory over French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, edging closer to a sixth singles title at the All England Club.

"The competition keeps you growing," Williams said. "You have to get better if you want to stay relevant."

To get to what would be her ninth final at the All England Club, the 10th-seeded Williams will need to win tomorrow against No. 6 Johanna Konta, the first British woman in the Wimbledon semi-finals since Virginia Wade was the runner-up in 1978.

With Wade, the 1977 champion, sitting in the Royal Box, Konta prevented Halep from rising to No. 1 by beating her 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Semi-final

The other semi-final will be Garbine Muguruza of Spain against 87th-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia. Muguruza, the 2015 Wimbledon runner-up and 2016 French Open champion, defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4. Rybarikova, the lowest-ranked Wimbledon semi-finalist since 2008, got past 24th-seeded CoCo Vandeweghe of the US 6-3, 6-3.