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It was a day of the big guns at SW19 as the top four seeds all made their way into the semi finals. The Americans, the Williams sisters and the Russians, Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva are the last four women standing, and with their displays through the tournament it promises to be a rousing finale to the Ladies' Singles event. While a ‘shaky' Dinara Safina squares up against Venus Williams, who continues to bulldoze her way past opponents without any serious challenge, in the other semi final Serena Williams takes on the in-form Elena Dementieva.

World no.1 Dinara Safina struggled to get past her hard hitting German opponent Sabine Lisciki and was the only semi-finalist who was stretched in her match, comi ng out on top 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1. Lisciki's propensity to take the ball early and leave her opponent with little time to react caught Safina by surprise and the Russian was unable to get a grip on proceedings, Lisciki worked her way into a position to serve out the first set at 5-3. The German though, displayed some nerves and Dinara was quick to pounce on the opportunity to bring the scores level at 5-5. Lisciki, to her credit didn't lose track and stuck to her guns and with Safina serving wildly, the first set was taken by the German teenager in the tie breaker.

The second set saw both players making errors by the dozen and Safina, by virtue of fewer errors scraped through to take the match into a final set. The last set however was all Safina, who barring some minor hiccups courtesy a suspect serve and an even more suspect temperament pulled off rather convincingly 6-1. Though Safina can take solace from the fact that she is into the last four on her least favourite surface, she will now need to contend with the immovable object that is Venus Williams.

Venus was at her vintage best as she demolished Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in just 68 minutes. The 11th seed Radwanska was a mere spectator as Venus bludgeoned her way past Agnieszka with consummate ease. Radwanska had little time to even blink an eyelid before she found herself down 5-0 in the opening set in just 17 minutes. She tried to counter the Venus force through some attacking shots of her own, but it amounted to nothing as Venus closed the set in imperious fashion, winning 6-1. Radwanska wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet and came back strongly in the second set, courtesy some errors from Venus. However the great champion that she is, Venus overcame the 0-2 deficit in style as she won the last 6 games in a row to wrap up the match 6-1, 6-2. It was frightening to see the domination exerted by Venus against a top ranked opponent and it would take one helluva performance for anyone to thwart Venus' hold on the Tournament.

Speaking after the match about her forthcoming clash with Safina, Venus said, "She has the top ranking but I have more experience in this tournament and more success."

"I also have strategy. Maybe it doesn't look like it, but I do. I think that's my secret weapon, that it doesn't look like I'm thinking, but I am."

"Being in the semi-finals again is obviously where I want to be right now. I would love it to be an all-Williams final and so would [Serena]. That would be great."

Speaking of the younger Williams, Serena was at her usual belligerent best as she made short work of the supremely talented Victoria Azarenka in straight sets. Despite not having one of her best serving days (She could only manage 46% of first serves compared to Azarenka's 80%) Serena romped home to a 6-2, 6-3 win. Azarenka, who subjected Serena to an embarrassing loss in their previous meeting earlier this year, had little say in the proceedings as Serena simply pummelled her way past her. The customary shrieks from Azarenka were there, but the day belonged to Serena as she looked invincible for most part of the day. The 19-year old Belarusian had a glimmer of a chance in the second set as she was up a break at 3-2, and had points to consolidate the break, but Serena returned from her mental walkabout and dismissed the youngster from her presence.

Her opponent in the semis, Elena Dementieva showed some good form herself, routing Francesca Schiavone in just 66 minutes. The Russian, who is yet to drop a set in this year's tournament, outclassed the Italian journeywoman 6-2, 6-2.

Though the Williams sisters are without a shadow of a doubt the two best female players in the world today, they continue to struggle to hold on to the number 1 ranking for any length of time. This is predominantly due to the fact that they play a lot fewer tournaments than most of the other competitors on the tour, which gives the likes of the Safina's and Jankovic's a chance to pip them to pole position year after year. What is disappointing however is the consistent reaction of both Venus and Serena to the fact that they aren't ranked at the top of the ladder. Serena made life difficult for Jankovic earlier this year, refusing to accept the rankings, and going on record that a player without a Grand Slam to her credit doesn't deserve top spot. Venus' comments today directed at Safina are just more of the same, call it mind games or just speaking your mind, surely someone who works harder and puts in the miles on court (Safina has played almost 50 matches already this year) deserves the rewards just as much even if they are yet to win a Grand Slam!

Tomorrow's Preview:
Day 9 sees the Gentlemen's quarter finals on the platter. And with some marquee matches on display, it promises to be one gala affair at SW19. Five time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer faces the Croatian ‘ace' machine Ivo Karlovic in what promises to be a sumptuous main course for the neutrals. Federer who is on a red hot streak in this year's tournament would take some stopping for sure, but Karlovic does seem to have the necessary firepower to upset the Swiss' applecart. The other Quarter final to catch the eye is the one between the ‘never say die' Australian Lleyton Hewitt and the big serving American Andy Roddick. Both of them have enjoyed some pulsating encounters in their careers so far and tomorrow promises to be no different. Roddick had only just beaten Hewitt at Queen's Club a couple of weeks ago and Hewitt would be looking to settle old scores for sure.

In the other two quarter finals, Britain's favourite son Andy Murray takes on Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain while Novak Djokovic takes on the mercurial but supremely talented Tommy Haas from Germany.

File Photograph Copyright: Steve G

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