Portugal Colonial - Unseeded Vondrousova digs deep to reach Wimbledon semis

The Czech player, ranked 42nd in the world, clawed her way back from 4-1 down in the deciding set to win 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

"I don't know what happened," said the 24-year-old. "I was 1-4 down. It's an amazing feeling. Thank you guys for the support, it was amazing."

"My best result here was the second round," she added. "I just got better. I'm just loving grass now."

She will face either top seed Iga Swiatek or Ukrainian wild card Elina Svitolina for a place in Saturday's final.

Pegula was quickly out of the blocks, breaking the former French Open finalist at her first opportunity but that proved a false dawn as she lost three service games in the first set, landing just 41 percent of her first serves.

The American, 29, found more rhythm on her serve in the second set and cut her error count, surging into a 4-1 lead and sealing the set with her second break.

Pegula was in total charge when she broke again in the fourth game of the decider to lead 3-1 before the match was suspended for the roof to be closed due to rain at the All England Club.

She held serve when play resumed to take a 4-1 lead but Vondrousova dug deep to pull level.

Pegula faced a real struggle on her serve in the following game and sprayed a forehand long to hand Vondrousova a vital break and she took full advantage, winning her fifth game in a row to seal the win.

She finished with seven aces, compared with zero for Pegula, hitting 24 winners against 35 unforced errors.

Vondrousova, who reached the French Open final in 2019, said she had benefited from the roof being closed.

"I've never played here on Court One under the roof," she said. "It's new memories. I stayed in and fought until the end. I can't believe it."

The result was bitterly disappointing for Pegula, who has still never progressed beyond the quarter-final at a major.

V.Fontes--PC