Venus and Serena Williams have booked the grandest tennis stage in the world on American Independence Day to settle the latest instalment of their amazing rivalry, with the Wimbledon women's singles title on offer to the winner.

Defending champion Venus is attempting a third successive Wimbledon triumph in her eighth final on the hallowed grass of SW19 while her younger sister is trying to make it a hat-trick of Rosewater Dish victories to maintain her grand slam lead over her
housemate.

The Williams sisters are tied 10-10 in career meetings, making this eagerly awaited final a decider while Serena goes into the third “Sister Act” final at Wimbledon holding 10 slam titles — three more than Venus.

Serena needed 2hrs 49mins to record a three-set win over Elena Dementieva in the longest women's semi-final in the modern era on grass while Venus made ridiculously short work of world No1 Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 mins in the other match.

Despite the thumping scoreline, Venus denied that it exposed the seemingly fragile women's game to ridicule.

Serena is overjoyed at getting to the singles final with her sister and said: “The more we play, the better it gets and this one is for everything. This is what we dreamed of when we were growing up in Compton 20 years ago.
“The final is going to be super intense and would I like it to end even? Of course not. Then I wouldn't win and I'm sure she feels the same about me.”

Venus wants to get ahead in the rivalry and insists she will have to play even better than in the Safina demolition.

She said: “This is going to be a tipping point and I want to be ahead and I hope there will be many more matches to come. I wanted her to win and make the final so that the dream could come true for us and our family. Playing in the Wimbledon final is something I never take for granted and it's not easy to achieve.

“I am going to bring my tough feet to the court and it's really easy to separate being sisters and rivals when a serve of 127mph comes back as a winner.

“You soon realise you are playing an awesome player and had better get on your toes for the battle.”

The sisters today booked a second final appearance when they crushed No1 seeds Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Liezel Huber of the United States 6-1, 6-2 in the penultimate round of the women's doubles.

The match on Court No1 was as one-sided as the result suggested. The Williamses raced 5-0 up in the first set before Huber finally held her serve. And they went 4-0 clear in the second set before Black, who had strangely started the match wearing dark sunglasses beneath a heavy grey sky, held her serve to generous cheers of encouragement from spectators hoping to see a little more action.

They were to be disappointed when, in the eighth game, Venus scorched to two match points. She saw the first saved when Black found the empty back of the opposing court from the net, but then won the next when Black this time hit her return too long.