Wimbledon: Serena Williams proved to be far too strong for Agnieszka Radwanska as she stormed into the semi-finals of Wimbledon with a powerful straight-sets victory on Centre Court.
The American sixth seed got off to a slow start against the 19-year-old from Poland but quickly picked up the pace to win 6-4 6-0 in just 51 minutes and move closer to setting up a final family affair against her own sibling Venus Williams.
It's the fifth time she's reached the last four at SW19 and up next is a clash with Jie Zheng.
Radwanska, the 14th seed and former Wimbledon junior champion, looked as though she'd push Williams hard as some aggressive play saw her break serve in the fourth game of the opening set.
But this only sparked the two-time champion into life and with two breaks of her own, she promptly polished off the set in just 32 minutes.
This proved to be a sign of what was to come as Williams' dominant tennis from all areas of the court was easily the best she had produced throughout the tournament so far and Radwanska was simply blown away.
Williams was in no hurray to stick around and three successive breaks in the next set saw her finish off victory in just a further 19 minutes.
Earlier her sister Venus Williams battled though a hard-fought quarter-final to beat the plucky Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand in straight sets.
While the scoreline of 6-4 6-3 suggests a rather routine passage, it was far from that as the American seventh seed was made to work for every point.
The opening set lasted 56 minutes as Tanasugarn tenaciously raced around the court to frustrate Williams and keep her within reach.
And it could have been so much different had she taken more than one of the 10 break points she carved out on the big Williams serve.
But just the one was simply not enough in the end as her opponent broke three times to finally take the 1-0 set lead and from then Tanasugarn had a mountain to climb.
The second was comparatively easier for Williams, who now upped her game and proved just too powerful as she sealed her place in the last four in a further 39 minutes.
She will now meet fifth seed Elena Dementieva, who claimed a nerve-wrecking three-set victory over fellow Russian Nadia Petrova.
Dementieva, the highest remaining seed left in the tournament, had looked in full control of the clash from early in the opening set and despite almost throwing it all away she eventually closed it out 6-1 6-7 (6/8) 6-3 on Centre Court.
The 26-year-old, not usually regarded as a grass court player, won five games in a row in the first set but it was made easy when her compatriot fell to pieces after losing serve in the fourth.
Petrova, seeded 21, was called for a foot fault on the opening point and clearly ruined her concentration as Dementieva moved a step closer to the last four.
A similar pattern occurred in the second set as Dementieva raced into a 5-1 lead as Petrova's unforced error count began to mount but at the first time of asking she failed in her attempts to serve for the match.
At 5-4 the she had another opportunity but kill the game off but her fellow Russian dug deep to break back again and suddenly, out of nowhere, it was game on.
A tie-break was needed to settle matters and it looked as if Dementieva would crawl over the finishing line after earning two match points to lead 6-4. But she choked once again under the pressure as Petrova capitalised to square the match and force a deciding set.
However it was now Dementieva's turn to find extra reserves and she swung the momentum back in her favour by breaking twice on the trot to race into a 4-0 lead.
Petrova nearly repeated her exploits of the second set by narrowing the deficit to 5-3 but at the third time of asking Dementieva managed to stay calm, keep control of her nerves and serve out for an extraordinary triumph.
In the day's other quarter-final Zheng defeated Nicole Vaidisova 6-2 5-7 6-1 to become the first Chinese player into the semi-final of a grand slam.
The 24-year-old, ranked 133 in the world, controlled much of the game as her teenage Czech opponent struggled to deal with a range of deep, flat groundstrokes.
And although Vaidisova scrapped hard to claim the second set and force a decider, Zheng produced more hard-working and classy tennis to ease through.