Konta’s long road to Wimbledon success

whocontinued to put the new generation in their place as she defeated French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals.

Ostapenko was only a few weeks old when Williams made her Wimbledon debut 20 years ago.

And the 37-year-old Williams made experience count in a 6-3 7-5 victory to move closer to a sixth title at the All England Club.

Williams has not won a grand slam crown since lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish for the fifth time nine years ago.

But she has been getting closer, reaching the semi-finals here 12 months ago and then losing to sister Serena in the final of the Australian Open in January.

Williams’ longevity accentuated by the age of her Wimbledon opponents, who have also included two 19-year-olds and a 21-year-old.

Ostapenko was the junior champion here only three years ago and would certainly have been more fancied to make her slam breakthrough on grass than clay until her stunning performance at Roland Garros.

Backing up that sort of out-fromnowhere triumph is notoriously difficult but the fearlessness of youth has served Ostapenko well and she appears to have paid little attention to the heightened levels of expectation.

Perhaps the under-fire Wimbledon schedulers did her a favour by keeping her well away from the main show courts until this clash.

Not that Ostapenko appeared nervous in the early stages but it took her time to find her range, with the Latvian making too many errors in the opening set.

Williams won the first three games and did not let her advantage slip despite an improvement from Ostapenko.

This was first-strike tennis, with neither woman interested in getting involved in long rallies.

Williams gained the upper hand in the second set, too, but a double fault allowed Ostapenko to level at 3-3.

It looked like the younger player might force a decider but Williams stayed at the same consistently high level while her opponent fluctuated.

And when Ostapenko dropped off again, Williams pounced, breaking serve in the 11th game and then serving out the victory to love. THE British Grand Prix faces extinction from the Formula One calendar after Silverstone’s owners triggered a break clause in its contract yesterday.

The British Racing Drviers’ Club, which owns the Northamptonshire circuit, gave notice of its intent to leave its current deal in two years’ time.

Its decision means 2019 will be the last year for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone unless a new deal is brokered with F1’s American owners Liberty Media.

Nearly 140,000 spectators watched triple world champion Lewis Hamilton claim his third consecutive win at Silverstone last year.

And a near sell-out crowd is expected again this weekend as Hamilton (below) bids to reduce rival Sebastian Vettel’s 20-point lead at the summit of the championship.

But the demands of the hosting fee which goes up by five per cent every year - from £12m in 2010, the year in which the new long-term deal started, to £16m this season and £25m in 2026 - is crippling Silverstone.

Liberty Media has staged a series of talks with both the BRDC and Silverstone.

But while Silverstone wants to continue its relationship with Formula One, it will not do so at the cost of financial ruin.