July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Defending champion Venus Williams will play her sister Serena in the Wimbledon tennis final for the second straight year after both ousted Russian opponents today.
The 29-year-old Venus took just 51 minutes to beat No. 1 seed Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0 at the All England Club in London, while Serena saved a match point in the third set before winning 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 8-6 over, Elena Dementieva in a match that lasted almost two hours longer -- 2:49, the longest women’s semifinal in Wimbledon history.
“It’s a dream come true to be here again and to have the opportunity to hold the plate up,” Venus told the BBC. “The hardest part is yet to come, to play Serena Williams”
Venus is aiming for her sixth title at the only Grand Slam played on grass, and would become the first player since Germany’s Steffi Graf from 1991 to 1993 to win the tournament three years in a row.
The sisters will face off in the final at a major for the eighth time. Serena, seeded No. 2 this year, beat Venus, seeded No. 3, for the Wimbledon championship in 2002 and 2003.
The championship match will be played on July 4, the U.S. Independence Day holiday.
Venus, who also has two titles at the U.S. Open, swept aside Safina with ease, converting all five break points and making just one unforced error.
Service Domination
“I definitely owe this win to my serve,” Serena told reporters. She said the match was “one of my more dramatic victories. I felt like I was down pretty much the whole match. To come out on top was a great feeling.”
Venus won the first nine points against Safina, then had to save a break point for the only time in the match in the third game. An ace followed by a winning volley gave her a 3-0 lead.
Venus took the next two games before Safina, who will retain her No. 1 WTA ranking, won her only game. Safina made 16 unforced errors and won less than a third of the points on her serve.
Safina had reached six finals in her previous 10 tournaments in 2009, including runner-up finishes at the Australian and French opens.
Semifinal Sweep
Serena, seeking her 11th Grand Slam title and second this year, has now won all eight of her semifinals at majors since losing at that stage in the French Open in 2003. She won the Australian Open in January.
Neither Serena nor Dementieva had lost a set in the tournament before today. After swapping service breaks in the first two games, the first set went on serve, with the Russian coming back from 0-40 in the eighth game.
Serena struggled with her forehand, including an error to give Dementieva the first mini-break of the tie-break. Again the forehand let Serena down to give her opponent the opening set.
Serena broke in the first game of the second set, then lost her advantage when Dementieva broke at love in the sixth game. The American saved two break points in her next service game before taking advantage in the 11th game when a line-call challenge was ruled in her favor.
The match was tied at one set apiece when Serena fought back from 15-40 in the next game, completing her comeback with an ace and taking the final three games.
Traded Breaks
The players traded breaks in the fourth and fifth games of the final set, and Serena then saved a match point in the 10th game with a volley when Dementieva tried a crosscourt passing shot instead of a backhand down an open sideline. With no tie- break in the final sets at Wimbledon, she broke again in the 13th game and held serve to win.
“I feel very satisfied the way I was playing today,” Dementieva told reporters. “The only regret I have, maybe I should have taken a little bit more of a risk on match point.”
Dementieva, ranked No. 4 by the WTA Tour, last reached the final at a major in 2004 and has lost five semifinals since then. She beat Serena in the quarterfinals at the Beijing Olympics last year on her way to the gold medal.
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