Thu Jul 3 10:13:56 2008

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Venus reaches seventh Wimbledon final

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Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Reigning champion Venus Williams reached her seventh career Wimbledon final on Thursday by straight-setting Russian Elena Dementieva on the grass at Wimbledon.

The seventh-seeded Venus handled the fifth-seeded Dementieva 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) on Centre Court at the All England Club. The powerful American's opponent in Saturday's final will either be her seventh-seeded sister Serena or Chinese wild card Jie Zheng.

This match was never in doubt, as Venus pounced on Dementieva for a 4-0 lead in the first set, and wound up winning eight of the first nine games for a commanding 6-1, 2-0 advantage. She converted on her first match point when Dementieva netted one final weak forehand.

Venus is now 6-2 lifetime against Dementieva, including a victory in the gold medal match at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

The 26-year-old Dementieva is a two-time major runner-up and was appearing in her first-ever Wimbledon semifinal and her fifth career major semi (2-3).

The six-time Grand Slam champion Venus is now 7-0 in her Wimbledon semis and 57-7 overall in 12 trips to the All England Club. She defeated France's Marion Bartoli in last year's finale and also titled here in 2000, 2001 and 2005.

The 28-year-old former top-ranked Venus is 6-6 in her career Grand Slam finals, including 4-2 at Wimbledon. She lost to her younger sister in back-to- back finals here in 2002 and 2003.

Venus owns 36 titles in 58 career finals and will perform in her first final of 2008 here on Saturday.