SPORTS EDGE

Tennis
The Championships Wimbledon
Venus ends Tamarine run
Afp, London

Russian Elena Dementieva plays a backhand return against compatriot Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinal match of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Club in London yesterday. Photo: AFPFour-time champion Venus Williams cruised closer to a seventh Wimbledon final on Tuesday as she set up a last four showdown with brittle Russian Elena Dementieva.Williams, the seventh seed, brushed aside Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-3 and is now just one victory away from an All England Club final and the possibility of a third title showdown with sister Serena.Tamarine, ranked 60 in the world, was the first Thai to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal but the 31-year-old, who considered quitting last year, was left to regret only converting one of her 10 break points.Dementieva reached her first Wimbledon semifinal with a 6-1, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 over Nadia Petrova in a rollercoaster tie where searing temperatures sent both Russians into meltdown on Centre Court.It was a hard-earned victory for the 26-year-old fifth seed, the highest ranked player left in the tournament after the top four seeds had been culled. Dementieva had led by a set and 5-1 and threw away two match points in a virtual carbon copy of her collapse against Dinara Safina in the French Open quarterfinals.American sixth seed Serena Williams reached the Wimbledon semifinals with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska.Serena, the 2002 and 2003 champion, will face China's Zheng Jie for a place in the final.Zheng reached last four with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 win over Czech 18th seed Nicole Vaidisova.Former world number three Petrova, who made the last eight here in 2005, has been dogged by a brittle temperament throughout her career and that fraility returned to haunt her.Trailing 2-1 in the first set, she was called for a borderline foot-fault which, in turn, sparked two back-to-back double faults which handed the first break to Dementieva.The fifth seed reeled off the next six games on her way to taking the first set and creating a 2-0 cushion in the second before Petrova stopped the rot.As the mercury touched 28 degrees, Dementieva wilted.A 5-1 lead drifted away as Petrova reeled off five successive games to take the set into a tiebreak.Dementieva then squandered two match points before Petrova pounced to level the tie with a cool volley.Dementieva stormed into a 4-0 lead in the decider and held her nerve after dropping serve again in the fifth game to eventually wrap up victory.SEMIS LINE-UPWimbledon women's singles semi-finals line-up (x denotes seeded player):.Zheng Jie (CHN) v Serena Williams (USA x6)Elena Dementieva (RUS x5) v Venus Williams (USA x7)