Wimbledon 2009: Serena Williams reaches final after classic with Elena Dementieva
Serena Williams prevailed in an extraordinary battle of wills against Elena Dementieva today to move in sight of her third Wimbledon triumph after the longest women’s semi-final ever staged in the Open era.
Wimbledon 2009: Serena Williams reaches final after epic with Elena Dementieva
Hear me roar: Serena Williams celebrates a hard won victory over Elena Dementieva Photo: EPA
Wimbledon 2009: Serena Williams reaches final after epic with Elena Dementieva
Final countdown: Victory over Elena Dementieva in the first semi-final at the All England Club sees Serena Williams in to final Photo: GETTY IMAGES

In one of the classic matches at SW19 which provided an emphatic answer to those who have been berating the quality of the women’s game here, Williams finally emerged triumphant 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 8-6 after two hours 49 minutes.

Williams, who had made serene progress into the last four not dropping a set, was pushed to the limit by Russia’s Olympic champion and only saved a match point with a nervous net cord volley.

yet her amazing appetite for the fight eventually saw her through to yet another possible meeting with sister Venus Williams, who was next up on Centre against Dinara Safina.

Serena reckoned she was going to go straight up to the players’ guest box to cheer on Venus and admitted she had looked up there at her parents, Richard and Oracene, during her own game for inspiration

“You know it was really tough. Elena was playing so well and has beaten me in matches in the past,” said Serena. “When she had that match point, I just thought ‘ace’. I had to stay calm and positive.”

Those crying out for anything but another sister act would have been encouraged from the start by an opening game in which Dementieva earned an immediate break with the help of one breathtaking backhand cross court pass.

Williams, though, responded with vigour, rasping a backhand winner of her own down the line to set up the break back. It was not, however, the signal for her to begin to dominate even when Dementieva went 3-4 and 0-40 down in the first set, having thrown in her first double fault.

The Russian’s response was dramatic as she recovered the break points with some brilliant tennis and maintained parity. The gruntometer, though, was on full alert as the pair kept cranking up the noise as well as the power.

Dementieva, to her credit, kept hanging in despite the overpowering quality of Williams’s serve and managed to take the set into a tie-break with a rock solid love game.

In the breaker, the grunts turned into screams as both women sought to hit the ball ever harder, without either ever dreaming of resorting to a hint of subtlety or touch.

Williams, though, proved the first to crack, succumbing on serve to an excellent return from the Russian which caused her such surprise that she clipped her subsequent forehand wide.

Dementieva then made a premeditated decision to attack Williams’s second serve to bring up three set points and, though she subsequently double faulted to offer a nervous moment to her supporters, another mistake from Williams as her attempt at an outright forehand service return winner sailed into the tramlines saw the former champion drop her first set of the championships.

Williams’s reaction suggested that she had been guilty of treating Dementieva a bit too lightly from the start and she appeared determined to make immediate amends, playing a ferocious opening game of the second set to break.

In former times, it might have been the signal for the Olympic champ to fold but Dementieva broke back and then saved a break point to move 4-3 ahead.

Then came a pivotal moment. Having earned a break point herself, Dementieva made a challenge when a scorching Williams forehand flirted with the baseline and but was called in. Hawkeye demonstrated the call was correct by maybe a couple of millimetres.

On such fine margins are matches won and lost. Williams took advantage of the reprieve to save the game and when Dementieva tightened, delivering another double fault and missing two simple forehands, Williams earned the decisive break.

Even then it was no easy job finishing off the set. Williams saved two of four break points with aces before another unanswered bullet earned her the 57-minute set.

Both women earned breaks in the third but at 5-4 Dementieva earned a match point which Williams saved with a volley that clipped the top of the net. It prompted her to break the Russian for 7-6 and when Williams finally sealed victory, the relief in the family box was palpable as father Richard saluted her with a victory bow.