The rise of Johanna Konta has reached the giddy height of a grand slam semi-final after the British women's No.1 won the battle of the Australian Open fairytales against China's Shuai Zhang on Wednesday. 
Konta, a 24-year-old who spent her first 13 years in Sydney before relocating with her Hungarian-born parents, will become the first British woman to contest a grand slam semi since Jo Durie at the 1983 US Open and the first here since Sue Barker made the last four at Kooyong in 1977.
Ranked 149 a year ago, Konta will leave Australia inside the top 30, billing that demands automatic seeding. She will play Angelique Kerber for a place in the final after the German shocked two-time winner Victoria Azarenka in straight sets.
"To be honest I was really just taking it a match at a time while I was here, even a point at a time," said Konta, who lost in qualifying in Melbourne last year. "I really enjoyed it, playing in front of you guys - you guys made a lot of noise for both of us."
The unfamiliar quarter-final stage appeared to make both players uneasy at times, with Konta hitting 22 unforced errors to Zhang's 20.
The 27-year-old Zhang, a former world No.30 whose ranking had plummeted to 133 when she arrived in Melbourne with retirement on her mind, had not registered a single win in 14 grand slam attempts.
Konta served for the first set at 5-2 but couldn't hold, and took more than eight minutes and several set points to close it out at her next opportunity, finally doing so with two big, confidence-building serves.
The second set was a steadier and brisker affair, with the Brit taking the early break and ultimately ending the tussle with a forehand that caught the tape and bobbed over to seal a 6-4, 6-1 win.
To warm applause in Rod Laver Arena, she moved to the net and comforted Zhang in a warm embrace.