Tennis: Defending champion Venus to face sister Serena in all-Williams Wimbledon final

The most dominant siblings in professional tennis are back in the Wimbledon final, reviving a rivalry that has been absent from the All England Club since Serena Williams beat older sister Venus in 2003.

"It's definitely been a while," Serena said. "We've been on the same side of the draw a few times. It's good. This is a new start for us."

Venus stretched her Wimbledon semifinal record to 7-0 by beating Elena Dementieva 6-1, 7-6 (3) on Thursday, and Serena joined her in Saturday's final by defeating Zheng Jie 6-2, 7-6 (5).

"She's tenacious," Venus said of Serena, an eight-time Grand Slam champion. "She's got every shot no matter what. You can't bet against her."

Venus has won six major titles, and four of them have come at Wimbledon, including last year. Against Serena, though, Venus is 0-2 in the final at the All England Club and 1-5 overall in Grand Slam finals. Between the two, they have won six of the last eight Wimbledon titles.

Neither has dropped a set through six matches this time.

"I look forward to it," Serena said. "This is Wimbledon. This is a Grand Slam. This is history. We both are trying to make our mark."

On Friday, five-time defending champion Roger Federer is to play former top-ranked player Marat Safin in the men's semifinals, while Rafael Nadal takes on Rainer Schuettler. The winners will play in Sunday's final, and it could be the third year in a row that Federer will face Nadal for the title.

Schuettler advanced to the semifinals Thursday by beating Arnaud Clement 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (7), 8-6 in a match that lasted more than five hours over two days.

"Obviously he (Nadal) has an advantage, but I will be OK tomorrow," Schuettler said. "I'm not so tired."

The all-Williams final will be the first at any tournament since 2003, when Serena beat Venus in the Wimbledon title match for the second year in a row.

"It's easy, especially with sibling rivalry," said Serena, who has also reached the women's doubles semifinals with her sister. "I personally want everything that Venus has. We're good at this now. We just leave everything on the court. This is the finals of Wimbledon. Who doesn't want it?"

Venus overpowered the fifth-seeded Dementieva in the first set and then prevailed in an error-filled tiebreaker. After Dementieva knocked a forehand into the net to end the 1 hour, 42 minute match, the 28-year-old Venus skipped and hopped up and down with joy like a kid at a birthday party.

"I guess it started to set in a little bit about being in the final," she said. "When I'm excited I always jump. That, I guess, will never change. I'd like to celebrate even more if I'm good enough to take that title."

Venus then went back out to watch her 26-year-old sister, who sat through rain breaks in both sets before cranking up her big serve, saving a set point in the second set and finishing off the 133rd-ranked Zheng to put her one win away from a ninth Grand Slam crown.

After Zheng dumped a second serve into the net on match point, Serena looked more relieved than anything to get through the match. Venus fiddled with her fingernails as she watched alongside their father, Richard, in the players' box.

"She definitely pushed me," Serena said of Zheng, the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam semifinal and first wild-card entrant to get this far at Wimbledon. "Unbelievable, and not only that she played a great game. She played like she had nothing to lose and she didn't."