Reflecting on the strong British showing, Murray said: "It's pretty good for us to have people competing in nearly all of the competitions".
Again it was Kerber who was out of the blocks fastest in the second set, with the German bagging two breaks of serve as she took control of the match.
Zhang admitted she ran out of puff against Konta, saying her three-set win over Madison Keys in the earlier hours of Australia Day on Tuesday morning hindered her performance.
On serve, Azarenka built a 40-0 lead, but a few errors from Azarenka including a double-fault allowed Kerber to earn one of those breaks back. However, a brief blip would prove costly for Konta.
"She's a tough opponent and she will win many tournaments in the future for sure", added the German. "And that's no secret", Konta said.
She won over the crowds with her athletic, chase-every-ball style, squatting into her forehands and backhands for extra power.
Zhang, who has never gotten this far at a grand slam event, says she is feeling the toll as well as the excitement of action from the past few days.
"I'm just so happy that I'm enjoying what I'm doing".
Kerber was playing in her third career Grand Slam semifinal-and she will play in her first Slam final on Saturday-but she nearly didn't make it past the first round, facing a match point against Misaki Doi in her opening match before prevailing 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 6-3.
"But I'm really taking a lot of positives out of it ..."
Konta had lost her only two matches of the year coming into the tournament but any doubts about her form were quickly dispelled after she dismantled childhood hero Williams, the eighth seed, in straight sets on Rod Laver Arena. I'm four years in the top 10.
Konta is playing in her very first Australian Open, after losing in qualifying rounds three years in a row. "Every aspect of my game I have to work on".
"She won everything, she's a great person, as well".
"I'm really excited to be in another final". The 27-year-old Zhang entered the Australian Open with an 0-14 record in Grand Slam matches. "That's why I started this sport, that's why I'm still in this sport".
"Going against Aga, you have to be ready or be ready to go home (and) I was able to do everything that I needed to do", she said. "I had my little chance in second set, especially when it was 4-all". Reid, who played before fellow Scotsman Andy Murray went on court for his quarterfinal in the main draw, beat Kunieda 6-3, 7-6 (1) to advance to a semifinal against Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina. I mean, who is in the semis played very good four matches actually, or five matches. You go on court and you lose 6-love in 20 minutes. He matches up well against No. 2-ranked Murray - they're 3-3 in head-to-heads.
She held serve but her pounding groundstrokes were being returned consistently.
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