Defending champion Venus Williams will meet her sister Venus in the
Wimbledon ladies final, while Rainer Schuettler goes through to face Rafael
Nadal in the men's semis after a marathon with Arnaud Clement.

 LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (JULY 3, 2008) AELTC -
Twice winner Serena Williams reached the Wimbledon final for the
fourth time and third against sister Venus on Thursday (July 3) with a 6-2 7-6
victory over Chinese wildcard Zheng Jie on Centre Court. 
    Serena, who had won their only previous meeting in the first round here
in 2004, won the first set in 28 minutes after a first break of serve in the
opening game and a 37-minute rain delay with the score 5-2. 
    Zheng, 24, made a dramatic improvement in the second set which reached
5-5, after an exchange of breaks in mid-set and the Chinese leading 40-30 on
her serve when there was a second rain delay lasting 82 minutes. 
    The set went into a tiebreak after Serena saved a break point in the
12th game. Serena set up match point with an ace then took it when Zheng
double faulted. 
    Venus Williams, champion four times, powered through to her seventh
final with a matter-of-fact 6-1 7-6 victory over Russian Elena Dementieva.

    Williams, aiming for her fifth Wimbledon title, launched an array of
blistering serves and ferocious groundstrokes at the 26-year-old fifth seed
and came up to the net to unleash an aggressive overhead shot across the court
to take the first set. 
    The Russian, appearing in the last four at Wimbledon for the first
time, made more of a contest of it in the second set, managing a rare break of
the Williams serve and surprising her 28-year-old opponent with some excellent
passing shots. 
    Seventh seed Williams won the second set tiebreak after a series of
errors by Dementieva, sealing it with a powerful forehand. 
    In the men's draw German Rainer Schuettler grabbed the last semi-final
spot with a dogged 6-3 5-7 7-6 6-7 8-6  win over France's Arnaud Clement in a
match lasting more than five hours. 
    The two former Australian Open runners-up returned to the court after
sharing the first two sets on Wednesday when bad light halted play and they
faced two rain interruptions on Thursday. 
    The German took the third set tiebreak and seemed on the verge of
victory when he led 4-1 and had two points for 5-1 in the fourth set but
Clement clawed his way back into the match and won the tiebreak 9-7. 
    Clement then had a match point at 5-4 in the fifth but Schuettler
fended him off, eventually serving out the match and winning it when his
opponent returned wide. He next faces second seed Rafael Nadal, who has had 24
hours more rest.