Venus Williams Is In!

Venus Williams makes Wimbledon final for 7th time

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Defending champion Venus Williams beat Elena Dementieva 6-1, 7-6 (3) to advance to the Wimbledon final Thursday, setting up a potential championship matchup with sister Serena.

Venus Williams, a four-time Wimbledon winner, overpowered the fifth-seeded Russian in the first set and then prevailed in an error-filled tiebreaker to improve her record to 7-0 in semifinals at the All England Club.

Her opponent in Saturday's final could be two-time champion Serena, who was next up on Centre Court to face 133rd-ranked Chinese wild-card entrant Zheng Jie. Their match was suspended by rain with Serena leading 5-2.

It would be the first all-Williams final since 2003 when Serena beat Venus in the championship match for the second year in a row.

"I am dying for S. Williams to get through," said Venus, who hasn't dropped a set in five matches and will be going for her seventh Grand Slam title. "This is my seventh final here and I'm looking forward to playing Serena in our third final, and I'm going to be rooting her on.

"At this point, our main focus is obviously both of us getting to the final," she said. "Then from there it's every Williams for themself."