LONDON -- Playing at Wimbledon for the 20th time, Venus Williams is in the semifinals for the 10th time.
The five-time champion at the All England Club advanced to the last four for the second year in a row by beating Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 7-5 Tuesday under a closed roof on Centre Court.
Williams, who is 37 years old, made her Wimbledon debut a few months before Ostapenko was born. She last won the title in 2008, but reached the semifinals last year and the Australian Open final this year.
"I love it. I try really hard," Williams said about her longevity. "There's no other explanation. You do your best while you can. That's what I'm doing.
"I love this game. That's why I put in the effort and the time. It's a beautiful game. It's been so good to me."
Williams will next face Britain's Johanna Konta, who lost the first set before rallying to beat second-seeded Simona Halep 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Thursday. In the other women's semifinal match, Garbine Muguruza will play Magdalena Rybarikova.
Konta became the first British woman to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon since Virginia Wade in 1978. And with Halep's loss, Karolina Pliskova will become the sixth different woman in WTA history to reach No. 1 without previously winning a major.
"I definitely feel that age is not a factor with her," Konta said about Williams. "She's just a tremendous champion, and I feel very, very humbled, and I'm very excited to share the court with her again."
Williams went up a break early in both sets against Ostapenko, the French Open champion. But the 20-year-old Latvian broke back in the second set and pushed the score to 5-5. A few unforced errors later, though, and Williams broke again for a 6-5 lead before serving out the match.
"She went for a lot of shots," Williams said of Ostapenko. "She competed really well. She kept herself, you know, really in the game with her attitude. I thought she just did a lot of things really well and kept it close."
Williams ended up with eight aces and only 13 winners. Ostapenko had one ace and 20 winners.
"Been working on that serve," Williams said. "It's working out for me just in time, just for these later rounds. I'd like to think that I can continue to rely on that as the matches continue."
It was Williams' 86th career victory at Wimbledon, tying her with her sister Serena for third in the Open Era. It also was the first time in her career that she had beat a player who had won the previous major.
Venus Williams revealed in 2011 that she was diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, which can sap energy and cause joint pain. As time went on, there were questions about whether she might retire, especially after a half-dozen first-round losses at majors. But she kept going, and with her recent successes, 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 repeatedly took advantage of Ostapenko's second serves at around 70 mph. "That's all I felt like."
Muguruza, the runner-up at the All England Club in 2015, beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4 to become the first player to reach the semifinals.
The 14th-seeded Muguruza, who won the French Open last year but lost in the second round at Wimbledon, saved all three break points she faced and did a good job of defending, focused more on keeping the ball in the court than going for winners.
"If she plays like she played today," Kuznetsova said, "she has all the chances to win the title."
To get to the final, she will have to get past the unseeded Rybarikova, who clinched the final spot in the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over American CoCo Vandeweghe.
The 87th ranked Slovakian is the lowest-ranked Grand Slam semifinalist since Angelique Kerber reached the semifinals of the 2011 US Open when she was No. 92 in the world.
Tuesday's match was suspended by showers at 2-all in the second set, after Rybarikova took the opener 6-3, and was moved Court No. 1 to Centre Court so it could be finished indoors.
Rybarikova had never been past the third round in her 35 previous career majors, including seven opening-round exits in a row at Wimbledon from 2008-14. She missed the second half of last season after wrist and knee operations, and her ranking fell out of the top 400.
"I had a really tough time," Rybarikova said, "and right now, I'm here, and everything paid off."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.