Venus awaits sister Serena

Defending champion Venus Williams beat Elena Dementieva 6-1, 7-6 (3) to advance to the Wimbledon final, setting up a potential championship match-up 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 tie-breaker to improve her record to 7-0 in semi-finals at the All England Club.

Her opponent in Saturday's final could be two-time champion Serena, who was leading 6-2, 5-5 against 133rd-ranked Chinese wild-card entrant Zheng Jie.

Their match was suspended by rain.

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."

Dementieva, playing in her first Wimbledon semi-final, looked nervous and was overmatched in the first set by Williams' sheer power and pace, but settled down and made it competitive in the second.

After Dementieva knocked a forehand into the net to end the one hour, 42 minute match, 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."