Williams Sisters, Safina Make Semis

The four top-seeded women have made the semifinals at Wimbledon which will feature a Russian versus an American player in both matches.

Despite her dislike for playing on the grass, top-ranked Russian, Dinara Safina, beat Germany’s Sabine Lisicki 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-1 on Centre Court which marks the first time she has advanced to the Wimbledon semifinal.

Safina was the runner-up at the French Open and the Australian Open and she played like a true champion on the hot day in London, although she did lose her cool at one point –she slammed her racquet down after committing her seventh double-fault.  Still, she managed to compose herself, regain her focus and beat Lisicki, who had to have her trainer ice her legs as she lay down on the court during the seventh set.

The Williams sisters have both made it to the semifinals which has led me to wonder if we are going to see a repeat of last year’s results with Venus winning over Serena in the finals.

Venus Williams easily secured her spot in the semifinals by beating Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 6-2 in just 68 minutes.  It’s not surprising considering the American’s incredible record.  She has won 33 straight sets at Wimbledon since 2007.  That’s almost inhuman!  She’s now 67-9 all-time on grass

Meanwhile, Serena Williams played a clean match against Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and walked away with a 6-2, 6-3 victory on Centre Court in 1 hour, 13 minutes.  This marks the sixth time that she has made it to the Wimbledon semifinal.  Serena is a two-time champion at the All England Club.  She battled her sister for both victories in 2002 and 2003.

Russia’s Elena Dementieva routed Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-2 on Court 1 in just 66 minutes.  It wasn’t the cleanest match for the reigning Olympic gold medalist who incurred nine double faults but she managed to finish strong with a victory.

The semifinals take place on Thursday, July 2, 2009 with the following pairings:

• Dinara Safina vs. Venus Williams (Venus is 2-1 in the three times they have met before)
• Serena Williams vs. Elena Dementieva (Elena is 3-1 in the four times they have met but Serena won their most recent battle at the Australian Open)

The women’s semifinals are definitely going to be interesting.

images: Zuma Press