Serena reaches final after epic Wimbledon semi

SERENA Williams needed to dig deeper than ever before to book her place in this weekend's Wimbledon women's singles final.

WILL AND DESIRE: Serena Williams produced a brilliant comeback to book her final place at Wimbledon tennis

The two-time champion was given a major fright by fourth seed Elena Dementieva, who will reflect long and hard on what might have have been following her 6-7, 7-5, 8-6 defeat.

This was the first classic women's match of the tournament - and so nearly its first real shock result.

And timed at just one minute short of three hours, it was also the longest women's semi-final in the open era at Wimbledon.

No quarter was asked or given as the powerful Williams and the wiry Dementieva slugged away like two prize fighters.

Emotions ran high as both players seemed determined to throw away the chances they were given.

Frequently they howled in despair as shots missed by millimetres. It wasn't always pretty but it was certainly watchable.

Williams had dropped just 25 games in her first five matches - progressing through the draw in double-quick time without losing a set.

Dementieva has become something of a bogey opponent for Serena and has won four of their last five meetings, including a quarter-final victory on her way to gold at last year's Olympics in Beijing.

In the end only Williams' greater will and desire could separate them - and the 20 aces she boomed down.

She will now face either reigning champion Venus Williams or top seeded Russian Dinara Safina in Saturday's final.

"It was really, really tough, she has been playing so well. On match point I just wanted to stay as calm as I could," said Williams.

"I was looking at my family a lot and just wanted to stay positive and we gave the crowd a great match."

Dementieva - who lost to Venus in the semis last year - spurned a match point at 5-4 in the final set but insisted she had no regrets after one of the performances of her career.

"It was a good fight but I didn't have quite enough," she said.

"I'm very satisfied with the way that I played but maybe I could have taken a bigger risk on match point.

"That was the best match I've played against Serena but it's so hard to fight against her because she is such a great champion.

"Her serve is so big - I thought it was Andy Roddick across the net at one point.

"The way she has served throughout the tournament has been pretty impressive - it's the big advantage of her game."

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