Sisters will meet in final for first five years

In 2002 and 2003, two sisters competed for the Wimbledon Championships. This year, in 2008, there will be the same rivalry, as sisters Serena and Venus Williams will meet in the final, Serena going for her third title, and Venus going for her fifth title. Serena was victorious over Chinese wildcard Jie Zheng in straight sets, 62 76(5); while Venus defeated Russian Elena Dementieva also in straight sets, 61 76(3).

"Being in the final, which is always exciting, started to set in," said Venus, who was visibly ecstatic during her post-match handshake with Dementieva. "When I'm excited I always jump. That will never change. But the tournament is definitely not over. I'm still in the doubles and still have the final to play. I would definitely like to celebrate even more if I'm good enough to take that title."

"In the beginning she really dominated, put a lot of pressure on my serve, served unbelievably well; it was really hard," Dementieva said. "I knew she probably couldn't play like that the whole match. I was feeling really ready to play. I was so ready. If she gave me a chance by not serving like that, like 121, 125 miles per hour the whole match, I would be able to do better than I did today."

Jie Zheng, Serena's semifinal opponent, made a historic run here at Wimbledon, being the first Chinese person to win to top seed Ana Ivanovic in the third round, and she is the first Chinese person to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam.

"I was probably thinking too much on the set point," said Zheng on her missed opportunity on set point, where she netted a backhand down-the-line, a shot that had been working almost perfectly the entire set. "I knew there were millions and millions of people watching back home. I really wanted to win. But overall I'm quite satisfied with the performance I had today. Her serve was just too big."

"I definitely felt like I wanted to win it now, but at the same time I was ready for the third set," Williams said on the tight ending. "I'm really excited because I feel it's all coming together now. I'm serving and moving better, and my whole game is just coming together. And it's always exciting to be in a Grand Slam final."

The Williams sisters have faced each other 15 times previously, with Serena leading, 8-7. They split their first 14, which all came between 1998 and 2005, although in their six Grand Slam finals it was Serena who came out on top, 5-1 (including two finals here); and in their only meeting since 2005, at Bangalore earlier this year, Serena also came out on top, saving a match point in the third set en route to a 63 36 76(4) win; but Venus does hold the edge in Wimbledon titles, 4-2. It couldn't be harder to pick a favorite this Saturday.

"On the court she's always Serena Williams. She's tenacious. She's got every shot no matter what. You can't bet against her," Venus said. "I respect her as a player more than anyone else on the Tour. Our focus was for both of us to get to the final, then from there it's every Williams for themself."

"It has definitely been a while," Serena added. "Our rankings fell. We've been on the same side of the draw a few times. I, unfortunately, lost a lot. But now it's good. This is a new start for us. We'll just leave everything out on the court.

"This is the finals of Wimbledon. Who doesn't want it?"