Serena powers way into fourth final

By Rex Gowar

LONDON (Reuters) - Twice winner Serena Williams reached the Wimbledon final for the fourth time and third against sister Venus on Thursday with a 6-2 7-6 victory over Chinese wildcard Zheng Jie on Centre Court.

Serena, who had won their only previous meeting in the first round here in 2004, won the first set in 28 minutes after a first break of serve in the opening game and a 37-minute rain delay with the score 5-2.

Zheng, 24, made a dramatic improvement in the second set which reached 5-5, after an exchange of breaks in mid-set and the Chinese leading 40-30 on her serve when there was a second rain delay lasting 82 minutes.

The set went into a tiebreak after Serena saved a break point in the 12th game. Serena set up match point with a thundering delivery then took it when Zheng double faulted.

Venus Williams, champion four times, reached her seventh final with a 6-1 7-6 win over Russian Elena Dementieva in the first semi-final.

POWER SERVE

A big difference between the players was the powerful Serena serve which allowed Zheng, the first Chinese and first wildcard to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals, only three points in the American's first six service games.

In the sixth game of the second set, the Chinese earned one break point which she won with a brilliant low return across court to move 4-2 ahead.