Serena survives thriller; Venus rolls into final

Venus and Serena Williams won in contrasting fashion Thursday to set up their fourth all-sister Wimbledon final and eighth meeting in a Grand Slam title match.

Two-time champion Serena saved a match point and overcame Elena Dementieva 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6 in 2 hours, 49 minutes. Five-time winner Venus needed only 51 minutes to overwhelm Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0 and reach her eighth Wimbledon final.

"Oh my God, this is my eighth final, and it's a dream come to true to be here again and have the opportunity to hold the plate up," Venus said.

The sisters - who hold 17 Grand Slam titles between them - will face each other Saturday on the Fourth of July, Independence Day in the United States.

"A fourth final - it's so exciting. It was so hard before my match to watch all that drama," Venus said, referring to Serena's semifinal. "It was so difficult. But the hardest part is next to come, to play Serena Williams."

Dementieva, who has never won a Grand Slam title, played one of the best matches of her career and nearly eliminated a player who has won 10 majors and combined with Venus to dominate at the All England Club for the past decade.

The classic ended when Dementieva sailed a backhand wide. Williams threw her head back, pumped her arms and hopped up and down in celebration.

"Elena played so well, and we gave the crowd a wonderful match," Williams said. "It was really, really tough."

In the 10th game of the final set, Williams faced match point on her serve with Dementieva ahead 5-4. Williams chose to attack, coming forward and hitting a backhand volley that skipped off the net cord and into the open court for a winner.

"I thought ace," Williams said. "It's my serve, if I can just stay calm. I was just trying to think positive."

One Williams or the other has won seven of the past nine championships at the All England Club. Serena beat Venus in the 2002 and '03 finals here, while Venus came out on top against her younger sister last year.

Venus is bidding to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1991-93 to win Wimbledon three years in a row.

There have been seven previous all-Williams championship matches at majors, with Serena holding a 5-2 lead. Overall, the sisters are tied 10-10.

Serena rallies past Dementieva to reach Wimbledon final

Serena Williams saved a match point and overcame Elena Dementieva 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 8-6 in a riveting marathon contest Thursday to advance to the Wimbledon final and another possible championship match against sister Venus.

Serena, a two-time Wimbledon champion, was pushed to the limit by the fourth-seeded Russian but raised her game when she needed in one of the most compelling women's matches at the All England Club in years.

Dementieva, who has never won a Grand Slam title, played one of the best matches of her career and nearly eliminated a player who has won 10 majors and combined with Venus to dominate at the All England Club for the past decade.

The 2-hour, 49-minute classic ended when Dementieva sailed a backhand wide, Serena threw her head back, pumped her arms and hopped up and down in celebration.

"Elena played so well, and we gave the crowd a wonderful match," Serena said. "It was really, really tough."

In the 10th game of the final set, Serena faced match point on her serve with Dementieva ahead 5-4. Serena chose to attack, coming forward and hitting a backhand volley that skipped off the net cord and into the open court for a winner.

"I thought ace," Serena said. "It's my serve, if I can just stay calm. I was just trying to think positive."

It was Serena's eighth straight win in a Grand Slam semifinal going back to the 2003 French Open. She is now 14-2 overall in Grand Slam semifinals.

The result sets up the possibility of a second straight and fourth overall women's final here between the Williams siblings. One Williams or the other has won seven of the past nine championships at the All England Club.

Defending champion and five-time winner Venus faced top-ranked Dinara Safina in the day's other semifinal.

"I'm going to come out and watch Venus and cheer her on and hope the best," Serena said. "I obviously want her to win so, Go V."

Venus is bidding to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1991-93 to win Wimbledon three years in a row and is trying for No. 6 overall. Serena beat Venus in the 2002 and 2003 finals at the All England Club.

There have been seven all-Williams championship matches at majors, with Serena holding a 5-2 lead. Overall, the sisters are tied 10-10.

The men's semifinals are set for Friday, with five-time champion Roger Federer facing German veteran Tommy Haas, and two-time finalist Andy Roddick playing Andy Murray. Federer is closing in on a record 15th Grand Slam championship, while Murray is seeking to become the first British men's winner in 73 years.

Serena and Dementieva had both sailed through the tournament without dropping a set or facing a stern test. On this day, they traded wicked ground strokes, big serves and brought tense drama to Centre Court.

The tension was almost too much for Serena's father, Richard Williams, who watched with other family members and friends in the guest box.

"Serena did it the hard way," Richard said. "This is the first time I ever got nervous at a tennis match. I've never gotten nervous before. Serena played the way she practiced this morning. She practiced bad and she played bad. But she's just so mentally tough that she did it 'The Williams Way.' She hates losing."

Serena served 20 aces and had 45 winners and 28 unforced errors. Dementieva produced 27 winners, 26 errors and eight double faults.

Serena, accustomed to starting fast and seizing command early, found herself having to rally from a set down.

It was Serena, surprisingly, who wilted in the tiebreaker, committing two unforced forehand errors to give the Russian a chance to serve for the set at 6-4. Dementieva double-faulted on the first set point, but converted on the second when Serena hit a forehand return wide and nearly spiked her racket to the turf in anger.

There were two crucial video replays in the second set that helped Serena mount her comeback.

Facing a break point and the possibility of going down 5-3, Serena hit a deep forehand down the line that Dementieva let go thinking the ball was out. Following a challenge, the video replay showed the ball was in - just touching the line where the baseline and the sideline meet. Serena saved another break point in the game with a forehand winner and held for 4-4.

Then, with Dementieva facing a break point in the 11th game, the Russian hit a short forehand that skipped off the netcord and near the sideline. The ball was called good. Serena challenged, and the replay showed the ball wide, giving her the break and the game for a 6-5 lead.

Serena served out the set in the next game, saving four break points and hitting four aces.

Dementieva was up a break at 3-1 in the third, but Serena kept fighting and broke back for 3-2. When Serena fell behind 30-40 on serve in the 10th game, it was Dementieva's chance to win the match. In a seven-stroke rally, Dementieva tried to pass Serena at the net but the American came through with the backhand volley to stay alive.

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Federer defeats Karlovic to reach Wimbledon semifinals

Roger Federer neutralized Ivo Karlovic's huge serves Wednesday to reach the Wimbledon semifinals and move a step closer to a record 15th Grand Slam championship.

In a match featuring short points and few rallies, Federer conjured up a few great returns to break the 6-foot-10 Croatian twice and secure a 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory on another sunbaked day at the All England Club.

Federer, closing in on his sixth Wimbledon title, reached his 21st consecutive semifinal at a Grand Slam tournament and extended his winning streak to 17 matches with another vintage performance on his favorite Centre Court.

"I love the record I have of reaching so many semifinals in Grand Slams in a row - 21 is quite a number," Federer said. "It shows how consistent I've been."

It was Federer's ninth win in 10 matches against Karlovic, who was playing in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Federer will face either Novak Djokovic or Tommy Haas in Friday's semifinals.

In other men's quarterfinals Wednesday, No. 3 Andy Murray of Britain was up against Spanish wild card and former No.1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, and two-time finalist Andy Roddick of the United States faced 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.

Karlovic served 23 aces to raise his tournament total to 160, but it was Federer who never faced a break point in this match. The second-ranked Swiss star won 74 of 85 points on serve and was taken to deuce only once, in the sixth game of the third set. Federer got out of that jam with a 129 mph (208 kph) service winner and a 128 mph (206 kph) ace.

"It's difficult because there's not really any baseline rallies on his serve or on my serve," Federer said. "You expect a tough scoreline all the time. It's not easy to break him. I'm very happy to break him twice and win the match."

The statistics told the story: Federer had 39 winners and only seven unforced errors, to 29 winners (almost all on serve) and 17 errors for Karlovic.

Federer grabbed the upper hand early when he broke Karlovic in the fourth game of the match with flashes of brilliance.

He got to break point with a reflex backhand return winner off a 130 mph (209 kph) serve and then ripped a forehand return winner off a 122 mph (196 kph) serve, pumping his fist and shouting, "Come on!"

It was the first time Karlovic had been broken during the tournament after winning 80 consecutive service games.

The first extended rally of the match - and one of only a handful during the entire contest - didn't take place until the fourth game of the second set, a 15-stroke point that ended with a Federer forehand winner 35 minutes into the match.

The second set turned Federer's way when he broke Karlovic in the 11th game with four straight winners: an overhead, a forehand passing shot down the line, a reflex backhand return off a 126 mph (203 kph) serve and a passing shot that glanced off Karlovic's racket frame.

The third set ended with the 13th tiebreaker the two men have played against each other in 25 sets of tennis. Karlovic's limitations were exposed as he made several glaring errors, missing badly on what should have been easy putaways. Federer finished him off with an inside-out forehand winner on the first match point.

The women's semifinals are set for Thursday, with the Williams sisters facing Russian opponents.

Third-seeded Venus, going for her third straight Wimbledon championship, will be up against No. 1 Dinara Safina. Serena, seeded No. 2, will face No. 4 Elena Dementieva.

The Williams sisters could face each other in a Grand Slam final for the eighth time, and fourth in the Wimbledon title match.

"I would love it to be a Williams final, and so would she," five-time champion Venus said.

Only once in the past nine years has there been a Wimbledon women's final that didn't feature at least one of the Williams sisters. That was 2006 when Serena was absent injured.

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Wimbledon official plays down flu concerns

Flu-like symptoms are spreading among Wimbledon staff, although organizers said no personnel has been diagnosed with swine flu.

All England Club spokesman Johnny Perkins said Wednesday that 28 staffers have been asked to stay home - up from four on Monday. However, he said that's out of 6,000 staffers working at Wimbledon during the championships, meaning the number of cases was not abnormally high.

None of the 28 have been diagnosed with swine flu, he said.

"We'd keep you informed ... if there was any escalation above the normal sort of what you'd expect, but it would appear there isn't," Perkins said.

British newspaper Daily Mail reported Wednesday that three doubles players at the tournament had caught swine flu, but Perkins said organizers wouldn't comment.

"We can't, because we wouldn't necessarily know," Perkins said. "It's confidential between them and their medical staff."

Organizers sent out a statement Monday asking all visitors to use good hygiene at the tournament, and to stay home if they developed any symptoms of illness. Perkins said there had been no other precautions put in place to curb the outbreak.

"It's the same that it's always been. The precautions are in place beforehand, following any sort of government guidelines over here or anywhere around the world," he said.

Sarah Hames, an All England Club spokeswoman, said three of the four ball boys and girls who first reported flu-like symptoms have returned to work.

"Once they're free of symptoms for 24 hours they are allowed to come back to work," Hames said. "And they haven't just come back to sit and watch, they're back working. ... Washing hands is pretty much the singularly most important thing, and we obviously push that when it comes to the ball boys and girls, and that's why it hasn't escalated."