Venus Strides Into Wimbledon Semi-Finals
LONDON—Venus Williams towered over Tamarine Tanasugarn on women's quarter-final day at Wimbledon on Tuesday but was made to sweat for her 6-4 6-3 victory.
The seventh seeded American, aiming for a fifth Wimbledon title, was engaged for longer than many expected by a player contesting her first grand slam quarter-final and left Court One wearing a worried frown after tweaking a hamstring.
Venus's record against Bangkok-based Tamarine now stands at 14 sets to zero from their seven matches but fears of a miss-match proved unfounded as her diminutive Thai opponent scurried around the dusty baseline to great effect.
In fact, had the 31-year-old Tamarine converted more than one of her 10 break points against an unusually cautious Williams, this unpredictable Wimbledon could have witnessed another shock.
"I expect when times are tough to get going, those break points you just have to play better and I'm really blessed to have a serve that gets me out of those issues," Venus told reporters.
Williams is moving headlong towards a third final here against sister Serena, who was in action later against Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, although first she will have to get past seasoned campaigner Elena Dementieva in the semis.
In the day's other match wildcard Zheng Jie was battling to become China's first singles semi-finalist at a grand slam when she took on resurgent Czech Nicole Vaidisova.
Dementieva Into Wimbledon Semis Despite Wobble
Fifth seed Elena Dementieva recovered from a mid-match meltdown to beat fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 6-1 6-7 6-3 on Tuesday and reach her first Wimbledon semi-final.
Dementieva was a set and 5-1 up after a one-sided encounter that Petrova barely seemed to be taking part in other than to produce a steady stream of forehand errors.
With the finishing post within touching distance and serving for the match, Dementieva threw the 21st seed an undeserved lifeline by double-faulting to hand Petrova her first break.
Another break by Petrova followed and what should have been an easy win suddenly turned into a more intriguing encounter.
Dementieva, the highest remaining women's seed in the draw, held two match points in the second-set tiebreak but could not convert them, enabling Petrova to force a decider.
It was a situation all too familiar for Dementieva, who was knocked out of the French Open quarter-finals by Dinara Safina after squandering a match point in the second set. She said she could not stop thinking about how things had slipped away from her that day.
"I was so close to finishing in two sets and I don't know what happened," she said. "I suddenly started to think about the French Open quarter-finals and it was difficult (to get that out of my head). It was so exhausting."
Petrova, wearing strapping on her right knee, seemed unable to build on what should have been a big confidence boost and started producing the type of unforced errors that had riddled her play in the first dozen games.
The 26-year-old Dementieva stormed to a 4-0 lead in the third set and finally wrapped up the match with a scorching forehand crosscourt winner to set up a last-four encounter with champion Venus Williams.
"I'm really happy because for the first time I will be in the semi-finals at Wimbledon," Dementieva, runner-up at the French Open and U.S. Open in 2004, said.
"I was so tight, I was so close to finishing it in two sets and I don't know what happened. I suddenly started to think about the French Open quarter-finals and it was difficult (to get that out of my head). It was so exhausting."
The elegant Dementieva reached the last eight at this year's French Open where she led Dinara Safina, squandered a match point, and then collapsed. Luckily for her she managed to control the tailspin this time, although Venus will not be handing out second chances on Thursday.
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