Serena says harder road to final with top seeds out

By Rex Gowar

LONDON (Reuters) - The surprise early elimination of the top four seeds made the Williams sisters' progress to the Wimbledon final harder not easier, Serena said on Thursday.

Serena Williams reached a third final at the All England Club against sister Venus when she beat Chinese wildcard Zheng Jie while title holder Venus also won her semi-final against Russian fifth seed Elena Dementieva.

"It might even have made it tougher when the top players go out," twice champion Serena, at number six seeded one place higher than Venus, told reporters.

She said the fact that top seeds Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova had lost before the quarter-finals could have given lower ranked players the belief they could upset other elite players.

Sharapova, who beat Serena in her last Wimbledon final in 2004, was upset in the second round, French Open champion Ivanovic in the third and Jankovic and fourth seed Kuznetsova in the fourth.

The Williams sisters contested the 2002 and 2003 finals with Serena winning both, although Venus has a total of four Wimbledon titles.

Serena said it was not at all difficult to motivate herself to beat Venus whenever they meet. They have contested nine matches at grand slam tournaments including six finals, five of them won by Serena.

"It's easy, especially with sibling rivalry... I want everything she has," Serena, at 26 two years younger than Venus, said.