Serena battles into final

Williams: chasing third Wimbledon title

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Serena Williams saw off a brave challenge from Elena Dementieva to reach her fifth Wimbledon final.

Williams saved a match point in the 10th game of the deciding set before prevailing 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 8-6 in two hours and 49 minutes on a sun-kissed Centre Court.

The final at the All England Club will be an all-Williams affair after Serena's older sister, Venus, demolished top seed Dinara Safina 6-1 6-0 in 51 minutes in the second semi-final.

The Williams sisters will be meeting in the Wimbledon final for the fourth time in total, Serena having triumphed in 2002 and 2003 and Venus 12 months ago.

Dementieva, the fourth seed, came out swinging and was rewarded with a break in the opening game but the Russian immediately surrendered her own serve as the first set settled into a pattern of powerful groundstrokes being traded from behind the baseline.

After the initial exchange of breaks, serve dominated with Williams looking particularly secure on her own delivery.

The American had three break points in the eighth game but was unable to convert as Dementieva reeled off five points in a row to hold.

Tie-break

Neither player had dropped a set on their way to the last four and it was no surprise when a tie-break was required to decide the first set.

And it was Williams who blinked first, her forehand deserting her as a series of errors gifted Dementieva the breaker by a 7-4 score.

The second seed re-asserted herself at the beginning of the second set, consolidating a break in the first game to open a 3-1 lead.

But Dementieva showed impressive resolve to recover the break in the sixth game and again to save a break point at 30-40 down on the way to moving 4-3 ahead.

However, Williams continued to force the pace and claimed a crucial break in the 11th game, confirmed via a challenge of an erroneous line call, to serve for the set at 6-5.

She was made to work hard, saving four break points - twice with an ace, but eventually closed out the second set with another booming ace to force a decider.

Decider

The third set was another closely-fought affair, Dementieva drawing first blood with a break in the fourth game before gifting it straight back.

At 5-4 down, Williams found herself under severe pressure serving to stay in the match.

Dementieva's superb cross-court pass at 30-30 took her to match point but Williams saved it with a backhand volley and produced huge serves on the next two points to hold.

And Williams seized the moment again three games later, breaking Dementeva for a 7-6 lead before serving out for victory to bring a close to the longest women's semi-final in Wimbledon history.