Venus strides into semis

LONDON – Venus Williams towered over Tamarine Tanasugarn on women’s quarter-final day at Wimbledon yesterday but was made to sweat for her 6-4 6-3 victory.

The seventh seeded American, aiming for a fifth Wimbledon title, was engaged for longer than many expected by a player contesting her first grand slam quarter-final and left Court One wearing a worried frown after tweaking a hamstring. Venus’s record against Bangkok-based Tamarine now stands at 14 sets to zero from their seven matches but fears of a mismatch proved unfounded as her diminutive Thai opponent scurried around the dusty baseline to great effect.In fact, had the 31-year-old Tamarine converted more than one of her 10 break points against an unusually cautious Williams, this unpredictable Wimbledon could have witnessed another shock.”I expect when times are tough to get going, those break points you just have to play better and I’m really blessed to have a serve that gets me out of those issues,” Venus told reporters.Williams is moving headlong towards a third final here against sister Serena, who was in action later against Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, although first she will have to get past seasoned campaigner Elena Dementieva in the semis.Dementieva, the highest seed to survive the mayhem in this year’s women’s draw and reach the last eight, came through an all-Russian Centre Court battle with Nadia Petrova despite a severe bout of nerves.The two 26-year-olds slugged it out for two and a half hours on the hottest day of the championships so far before fifth seed Dementieva, who had led by a set and two breaks, won 6-1 6-7 6-3 to reach her first singles semi-final here.”I’m really happy because for the first time I will be in the semi-finals at Wimbledon,” Dementieva, runner-up at the French Open and US Open in 2004, said.”I was so tight, I was so close to finishing it in two sets and I don’t know what happened.I suddenly started to think about the French Open quarter-finals and it was difficult (to get that out of my head).It was so exhausting.”The elegant Dementieva reached the last eight at this year’s French Open where she led Dinara Safina, squandered a match point, and then collapsed.Luckily for her she managed to control the tailspin this time, although Venus will not be handing out second chances on Thursday.In the day’s other match wildcard Zheng Jie was battling to become China’s first singles semi-finalist at a grand slam when she took on resurgent Czech Nicole Vaidisova.Nampa-ReutersVenus’s record against Bangkok-based Tamarine now stands at 14 sets to zero from their seven matches but fears of a mismatch proved unfounded as her diminutive Thai opponent scurried around the dusty baseline to great effect.In fact, had the 31-year-old Tamarine converted more than one of her 10 break points against an unusually cautious Williams, this unpredictable Wimbledon could have witnessed another shock.”I expect when times are tough to get going, those break points you just have to play better and I’m really blessed to have a serve that gets me out of those issues,” Venus told reporters.Williams is moving headlong towards a third final here against sister Serena, who was in action later against Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, although first she will have to get past seasoned campaigner Elena Dementieva in the semis.Dementieva, the highest seed to survive the mayhem in this year’s women’s draw and reach the last eight, came through an all-Russian Centre Court battle with Nadia Petrova despite a severe bout of nerves.The two 26-year-olds slugged it out for two and a half hours on the hottest day of the championships so far before fifth seed Dementieva, who had led by a set and two breaks, won 6-1 6-7 6-3 to reach her first singles semi-final here.”I’m really happy because for the first time I will be in the semi-finals at Wimbledon,” Dementieva, runner-up at the French Open and US Open in 2004, said.”I was so tight, I was so close to finishing it in two sets and I don’t know what happened.I suddenly started to think about the French Open quarter-finals and it was difficult (to get that out of my head).It was so exhausting.”The elegant Dementieva reached the last eight at this year’s French Open where she led Dinara Safina, squandered a match point, and then collapsed.Luckily for her she managed to control the tailspin this time, although Venus will not be handing out second chances on Thursday.In the day’s other match wildcard Zheng Jie was battling to become China’s first singles semi-finalist at a grand slam when she took on resurgent Czech Nicole Vaidisova.Nampa-Reuters