‘Relevant’ for sure: Venus gains semis

LONDON — Enjoying a career renaissance, Venus Williams rode a strong serve to a 6-3, 7-5 victory over French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and into the Wimbledon semifinals Tuesday.

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

At 37, she has done that. This was her 100th Wimbledon match. And for the third match in a row, Williams beat a player born in1997— the year she made her Grand Slam debut.

“Who knows if she’s lost a step?” said Williams’ coach, David Witt. “She looks pretty good to me.”

A championship this week would return the American to the top five in the rankings for the first time in six years.

“I just always felt like I have to keep trying,” said Williams, who took advantage of Ostapenko’s second serves at about 70 mph. “That’s all I felt like.”

To get to her ninth final at the All England Club, the 10th-seeded Williams will need to win Thursday against No. 6 Johanna Konta, the first British woman in the Wimbledon semifinals since Virginia Wade in 1978.

“I definitely feel that age is not a factor with her,” Konta said aboutWilliams. “She’s just a tremendous champion. I feel very, very humbled, and I’m very excited to share the court with her again.”

Konta prevented Simona Halep from rising to No. 1 by beating her 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4. The result means Karolina Pliskova, who lost in the second round, will replace Angelique Kerber atop the rankings next week.

The other semifinal will pit Garbine Muguruza against 87th-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova. Muguruza defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4. Rybarikova got past 24thseeded CoCo Vandeweghe of theU.S. 6-3, 6-3.

In the last men’s fourthround match, Novak Djokovic took a medical timeout to have his right shoulder massaged but had little trouble eliminating 51st-ranked Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in a match postponed because of darkness.