Williams sisters back in Wimbledon finals

LONDON, July 2 (UPI) -- Serena Williams survived a tough battle and Venus Williams cruised Thursday for Wimbledon semifinal wins, setting up a rematch of last year's final in London.

Venus, seeded third, dispatched world No. 1 Safina Dinara 6-1, 6-0 after second-seeded Senena fought off a spirited challenge from fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva 6-7 (4-7), 7-4, 8-6 to again make a Williams sweep of the semifinals at Wimbledon.

Saturday will mark the eighth time the sisters have met in a Grand Slam final, including last year in London when Venus won 7-5, 6-4 for her fifth Wimbledon championship. Serena, ahead 5-2 in those major tournament title matches against her sister, is seeking her third title at Wimbledon.

Venus routed Safina in 51 minutes. She won the first five games and never looked back. Venus had just one unforced error and took 54 of the 74 points in the match.

The first semifinal was much different, with Dementieva never yielding the advantage to Serena and just five points separating the two over the course of the nearly three-hour match.

Dementieva took advantage of two errors by Serena in the tiebreaker to win the first set and had a chance to force a second-set tiebreaker but sent a backhand wide. Serena then held to get to the third set.

Dementieva was up 3-1 in the third but Serena tied the set at 3-3. The match remained tied until the 11th game when Serena got her fifth break, enabling her to serve out for the win.