Wimbledon 2007: Pitiless Venus Williams Disposes of Nervous Ivanovic

Venus Williams moved into her sixth Wimbledon singles final as she brushed aside Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-4. Williams had swept into a 4-0 lead before a nervous Ivanovic could get started, and the sixth seed then had to save seven break points to avoid slipping 5-0 down and face the prospect of a first set whitewash.

Ivanovic belatedly stirred, holding two service games in succession, but she proved no match for Williams's relentless ground-strokes, and the American duly served out to take the lead.

Despite being broken in the third game of the second set, Ivanovic was getting to grips with her opponent and her surroundings, and finally made a breakthrough one game later. Attacking the Williams serve, Ivanovic broke for the first time with a stunning forehand winner down the line which drew the biggest cheer of the afternoon from the Centre Court crowd.

But Williams was not to be denied, breaking back for 4-3 and moving to the brink of victory on the Ivanovic serve at 5-3.

After Williams squandered three match points, the third of which was a lob that dropped inches long, Ivanovic survived to force her opponent into serving out for the match. Williams did what was expected of her, bringing up her fourth match point on the back of a 120mph serve, and wrapping up victory when her opponent splayed a backhand into the tramlines.