Serena Williams through to Wimbledon final after Centre Court epic

Chris Jones
2 Jul 2009

Serena Williams made it through to her fifth Wimbledon final as she won a tense three-set thriller against Russian Elena Dementieva.

The former women's singles champion held her nerve to serve out for the match after breaking the No4 seed in the 13th game of the final set to triumph 6-7, 7-5, 8-6 after two hours and 49 minutes.

Williams was tested for the first time at these Championships as Dementieva had the audacity to break serve in the opening game and although Williams returned the favour immediately, the message had been sent.

The set went into a tie-break as both players struggled to make inroads on the other's delivery.

Dementieva won that but Williams roared back in the second to level the match and take it into a decisive set. Williams will be aiming to win a third Wimbledon title on Saturday against either sister Venus or Russian Dinara Safina, who had to wait longer than anyone expected to start the second semi-final.

Williams said: "It was really, really tough, she has been playing so well. On match point I just wanted to stay as calm as I could.

"I was looking at my family a lot and just wanted to stay positive and we gave the crowd a great match."