But Anisimova fought back with a break of her own and led 0-40 with Halep serving for the match, only for the Romanian to take the next five points in a row, claiming victory when Anisimova drifted a long backhand.
This means Halep is yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament and is well positioned to claim her third Grand Slam title and her second at Wimbledon.
“Definitely, I’ve played the best tennis (since 2019),” she said during her on-court interview. “I struggled a lot last year and now I’m just trying to get my confidence back.
“(My) tennis is there, so I just have to believe in it. I started doing that and it feels good.”
Halep will next face Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina after the 17th seed’s 4-6 6-2 6-3 victory over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanović in the other women’s semi-final on Wednesday.
“It’s great to be back in the semis,” added Halep. “I’m very emotional right now because it means a lot to be back in the semi-finals. I faced a tough opponent today, they could smash the ball at the end.
“I didn’t really know what to do but I believed in myself, I said I had to stay strong on my legs – they helped me today – and I believed until the end that I could win .”
Halep took a 5-1 lead against Anisimova as she broke her opponent at 1-1 and 3-1 before taking the first set in 30 minutes.
Anisimova lost her radar in the second set and finished the match with 28 unforced errors to Halep’s six.
The contest looked out of reach for the 20-year-old American at 5-1 in the second set, but Anisimova started producing the big shots she was looking for earlier in the game and nearly leveled the set at 5. – 4.
The late push was too late, however, and Halep rallied to reach her third Wimbledon semi-final.
