The 47th-ranked Konta battled nerves and a wayward serve at times but overpowered the 133rd-ranked Zhang from the baseline to wrap up the match in one hour and 23 minutes on a warm, sunny afternoon at Rod Laver Arena.

After trading service breaks at the start of the second set, Konta roared to a 5-1 lead before sealing the win on the third match point with a lucky net cord that gave Zhang no chance.

The last British woman to reach the semis of a grand slam was Jo Durie at the 1983 U.S. Open. Konta will seek to continue her fairytale run when she takes on German seventh seed Angelique Kerber for a place in the final.

Earlier, Angelique Kerber won five consecutive games in the second set and saved five set points to beat two-time champion Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 7-5 in the Australian Open quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Kerber broke Azarenka’s serve to end the match, hitting a cross-court backhand at the net to beat the Belarussian for the first time in seven career matches.

The No.7-seeded German will play the winner of the later quarterfinal between Britain’s Johanna Konta and Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai.

The other semifinalists six-time champion Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska were determined on Tuesday.