All Williams Final Set For The Third Time At Wimbledon!

July 3rd, 2008

London, England

The women's Semi-Finals were played today at Wimbledon with heavy favorites, Venus and Serena Williams leading the way against surprises, Elena Dementieva and Jie Zheng. The defending champion, older sister Venus was up first on Centre Court against Dementieva. The first set was a complete washout as Williams simply outplayed and overpowered the Russian from all points on the court. Venus looked determined to win quickly. However Dementieva steadied herself in the second set and made a match out of the event. It led to a tiebreak where the server is usually at an advantage, and Dementieva is not known for her serve. Venus pulled ahead and won the tie break comfortably at 7-3. Venus now enters her 7th Wimbledon final in 9 years. She'll be looking for her 5th title.

Younger sister Serena was up next against Jie Zheng, and she too started off strongly, winning the first set 6-2. Rain came and interrupted play, but the players came back and Zheng was a changed woman. The Chinese player came out firing and didn't look nervous or scared. Instead, Williams was the more tentative one, hitting off of her back foot. The match ended up in a tiebreak after Serena saved a set point. During the tiebreak, Serena was just slightly stronger and ended up with the win, 7-5. This marks the seventh time the Williamses will face off in a Grand Slam final and the first since Wimbledon 2003. Serena defeated Venus in three sets during that final. Its up in the air at the moment, and I'm not even sure who will win.

Results:

Centre Court:

(7)Venus Williams d. (5)Elena Dementieva - 6-1, 7-6(3)

(6)Serena Williams d. Jie Zheng - 6-2, 7-6(5)

Top 10 Seeds:

1. Ana Ivanovic - Lost Round 3 (Zheng)

2. Jelena Jankovic - Lost Round of 16 (Tanasugarn)

3. Maria Sharapova - Lost Round 2 (Kudryavtseva)

4. Svetlana Kuznetsova - Lost Round of 16 (Radwanska)

5. Elena Dementieva - Lost Semi-Finals (V. Williams)

6. Serena Williams - Finals

7. Venus Williams - Finals

8. Anna Chakvetadze - Lost Round of 16 (Vaidasova)

9. Dinara Safina - Lost Round 3 (Peer)

10. Daniela Hantuchova - Lost Round 2 (Kleybanova)