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Sister Act 4 - Serena all set to play Venus in Wimbledon final

By AjayTyagi (TennisEarth.com), Submitted On

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The Williams sisters confirmed their domination on women's tennis once again as they regsitered contrasting wins over their respective opponents to reach the Wimbledon final for the fourth time at the prestigious All England Lawn Tennis Club.

Ten time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams registered a come-from-behind victory over Russian No.4 seed Elena Dementieva to reach the final of the 2009 Wimbledon Championships for the fifth time in her career.

The two time champion started her semifinal match against a much improved and powerful Dementieva on a bad note , getting broken in the opening game. Serena bounced back immediately and broke Dementieva back to level the set. The tussle continued till the tie-break, where Dementieva pocketed key points to win the opening set 7-6(4).

The second set saw Williams break Dementieva in the first game to race to a 2-0 lead. Although the lead could not sustain as Dementieva broke Williams back at 4-2 and looked on course for another tie-break. However just when it looked that the Russian was in total control of the match, Serena struck back and picked up a crucial break in the 11th game to eventually take the set 7-5.

The third set brought the best out of both players, firing winners from all corners of the court. But in the end, it was Serena, who prevailed with the help of her 19 aces to close out the match 6-7(4), 7-5, 8-6.

"It was really, really tough. She has been playing so well and she won a lot of matches against me in the past, so I was hoping to finally do a little better against her," Serena said. "I knew if I was calm and positive, I'd make it. I was looking at my family a little bit today because I wasn't playing my best. Now I'm going to come back out and watch Venus and cheer her on."

Infact, Serena did not have to wait for long to know who she plays in the Saturday's final as elder Williams, Venus completely destroyed top seed and world number one Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes of play to secure place in the eighth Wimbledon final of her illustrious career.

Venus dominated the match right from the start, with the help of some blistering serves and angled backhands to take the first set 6-1 in just 27 minutes. The Russian could not hide her acute disappointment and slammed racquets on several occasions. The second set proved to be even more humiliating for the world number one, who got bagled for a 6-1, 6-0 defeat at the hands of the five time champion.

"Dinara is so talented and she has played so consistently in the last year. I just went out there and focused, and I have so much experience on this court, which also helped," Venus said. "It's a dream come true to be here and have the opportunity to hold the plate up again. It's so exciting. It was hard to watch all the drama in the first semifinal, but now the hardest part is to come out again and play Serena Williams."

The sisters have an amazing head-to-head record in all aspects. Both have met 20 times in their career, with the series tied at 10-10. Both women met twice this year, with Venus emerging victorious in Dubai semifinals and Serena getting the better in the last four stage in Miami. In the end, their rivalry at the All England Lawn Tennis Club is also tied at 2-2 as Venus won the semifinal in 2000 and the final in 2008 and Serena denied Venus the win in 2002 and 2003 finals.

“The more we play, the better it gets,” Serena said. “When we play our match on Saturday, you know, it’s for everything. This is what we dreamed of when we were growing up in Compton 20-something years ago. This is what we worked for, and this is what we want. Like I wanted her to win today and she wanted me to win today. It’s all come down to this.”