London, Jul 6 (IANS): Former champion Simona Halep reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon 2022 after defeating Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 6-4 in their quarter-final match, here on Wednesday.

Halep hadn't set foot on court at the All-England Club since she lifted the trophy in 2019, as the 2020 Championships were cancelled and she was forced to withdraw last year due to a calf injury.

The Romanian's return to the site of her second career major title has been stellar as she hasn't lost a set in five matches so far, losing just 28 games in 10 sets. In fact, Halep has won the last 21 sets she's played at Wimbledon.

In Thursday's semifinals, she'll face No 17 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who rallied for a three-set win over Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic.

The quarterfinal match began nearly identical in scoreline to the pair's last meeting, won by Halep just last week on the grass in Bad Homburg, Germany by a 6-2, 6-1 final score. After Anisimova held serve to begin each set, Halep won five straight games twice as the American struggled to find rhythm off the ground.

But from 6-2, 5-1 ahead, the match grew complicated. Anisimova won three straight games with the loss of just four points, and in pursuit of a fourth, the American led 0-40 as Halep served for the match a second time.

However, Halep won five points in a row to finally finish off the win in 63 minutes.