Konta becomes 1st British woman in a Major semi in 33 yrs in Australian Open

Johanna Konta, Australia born Briton, booked her place in the semi-finals of the Australian Open, after defeating Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai. Konta, who lost in the first round of qualifying here 12 months ago, will be the first British woman to play in the last four here since Sue Barker in 1977. That was also the last year that Britain had two representatives in the singles semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament. The last British woman to win the Australian Open was Virginia Wade in 1972, while the last British woman to play in any Grand Slam semi-final was Jo Durie at the 1983 US Open.