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Williams Sisters Could Own the Wimbledon Semi-final
by Nadya Vlassoff
 There
was no time for rest for the women at Wimbledon,
as Tuesday marked a day of quarterfinal matches
with all eight players playing back-to-back matches.
Dinara Safina gave herself more of a scare than
necessary when Safina served up 15 double-faults
and looked more like a fisherman angling for a
catch rather than the best ranked player in the
world. Sabine Lisicki, the unseeded German teenager,
broke easily as Safina practically handed over
the first set after her 7th double fault in the
tiebreak. Even Lisicki looked slightly bewildered
as Safina’s normally solid service game fell apart
at the seams. In the second set Safina controlled
the pace of her ground game and later got the
decisive break. In the final set, Lisicki called
for a trainer after she was broken for the third
time with what looked like a similar injury that
forced Ana Ivanovic to withdraw only a day earlier.
Lisicki got back on court but it didn’t take long
for Safina to close out the match in overpowering
fashion. Between Safina and Venus Williams, Dinara
better have her serve back on track if she plans
on even taking one set off of Williams who has
been absolutely dominating.
This is one of the rare times that the women’s top four seeds have advanced to the semi-finals at Wimbledon, as Serena and Venus face a potential meeting in the final since the sisters are in opposite halves of the draw. Serena will take on the sleeper pick of the tournament, Elena Dementieva while Venus faces another match-up with current world #1 Dinara Safina. Of the four women in the semi-finals, Safina has been the shakiest game after dropping sets in both the fourth round and in her quarterfinal match against the unseeded Sabine Lisicki.
 Agnieszka
Radwanska said it best when talking about her
match against Venus, “Her tennis is so powerful”.
No truer statement could have solidified Venus’s
domination over Radwanska who gave her best
effort against the towering American but had
no answers for the crushing serve and powerful
winners that blasted Radwanska off the court.
On the other sibling side of the court, Serena
Williams continued her quest for second consecutive
Wimbledon final appearance by crushing Victoria
Azarenka in straight sets. It was a much different
Serena who took to center court on Tuesday compared
to the Serena who was ousted in the quarterfinals
of the French Open to eventual champion Svetlana
Kuznetsova. Azarenka managed to break for a
short-lived lead in the second set but Serena
was done with handing her opponents free gifts
and completed her 5th straight match without
dropping a set. Azarenka, also known to be a
power hitter, did her best to return Serena’s
90mph ground strokes but in the end must have
felt the throbbing pain in her wrist after several
solid shots.
 As
for Elena Dementieva, this year’s Wimbledon
sleeper faced little resistance from Francesca
Schiavone in a straight sets match that was
more like a first round match than a worthy
quarterfinal appearance. Losing only four games,
Dementieva dismantled Schiavone to make her
way into yet another semi-final. Next up for
Dementieva is the practically insurmountable
task of taking down Serena Williams. “Can we
play just two finals instead?” asked Dementieva
after her match. Dare to dream Elena. If that’s
the lack of confidence Dementieva has in her
game as she heads into the semi-finals then
an all-Williams Wimbledon final is isn’t much
of a stretch.
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