Women's Tennis: Serena and Venus Williams are just one match away from setting up another family showdown in the Wimbledon final after both hurtled into the last four. Serena enjoyed a 6-2 6-3 win over Victoria Azarenka while Venus had earlier beaten Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 6-2.
Venus, seeking her sixth career title here, has not lost a set at Wimbledon since the 2007 third round and the 11th seeded Radwanska rarely threatened a shock on a sun-kissed Court One.
"She's such a great grasscourt player, she plays the ball so low and plays so quick. I was happy to get through," Venus said in a courtside interview. "I can't complain, the semi-finals at Wimbledon is right where I want to be."
At the prospect of a fourth Wimbledon final against sister Serena on Saturday, she said: "That would be fantastic, something I am hoping for, of course."
Serena was in stupendous form in her match as she produced 25 winners, compared with only seven for her eighth seeded opponent, during the 73-minute exhibition of power tennis on Centre Court.
The US Open and Australian Open champion will next face Olympic champion and fourth seed Elena Dementieva.
However, fans and pundits alike feel that match will only be a formality for the American and she is being tipped to meet sister Venus in Saturday's showpiece match for the second year running.
Venus will face world number one Dinara Safina in the semi-finals after the top seed wore down unseeded German Sabine Lisicki 6-7 6-4 6-1 on Centre Court in a match that at least resembled a proper contest.
The willowy Muscovite's serve let her down badly at crucial moments in a tense match and she will need to sharpen her game if she is to have a serious chance against Williams.
"I was tough mentally - that was the key today," Safina said afterwards.
The battle-hardened Safina, playing her 50th match of the year, lost a tight tiebreak on a double fault, one of 15 in a patchy performance on a sun-kissed Centre Court.
In one game alone in the first set, she had three double faults and could not cope with the unseeded Lisicki's power and pace which had earlier in the tournament accounted for French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
But Safina, world number one like her brother Marat Safin once was, finally found her rhythm in a much more assured second set, dominating the 19-year-old Lisicki.
The top seed took complete control in the deciding set, racing to a 4-1 lead with a double break against Lisicki, who then called the trainer to massage her right leg.
The Russian, whose tortured expressions suggest she is as much fighting her own game as her opponent's, then finished off Lisicki, ranked 41 in the world, with ruthless efficiency.