THERE IS equanimity and poise about Jie Zheng on court and off that suggests the first Chinese player ever to get so deep into a Wimbledon draw might, just might, be able to squeeze the chunky game of Serena Williams.
Where Zheng, ranked 133 in the world, is strong, Elena Dementieva, who plays Venus Williams in the other semi-final, is flimsy. Of the two outsiders, it is Zheng and not the Russian, ranked fifth in the world, that stands the best chance of breaking the American sisters' grasp on this year's Wimbledon.
To say that the highest-ranked player left in the women's singles is the most likely to perish at this stage seems almost perverse. But Dementieva's fifth ranking to Serena's six and Venus's seven is a cautionary tale to those who believe position on the world ladder accurately reflects a player's ability.
Zheng is low because she injured an ankle at last year's Roland Garros, missed Wimbledon 2007 and was invited to play this year only because she was the 2006 doubles champion.
Dementieva is at five because she has played more WTA Tour events than the others (11 to the Williamses' eight and Zheng's nine) and has gathered points along the way, while the Williamses play wherever they want and ignore the rankings.
Still, the two have won 27 of the last 60 tournaments they have both played in and of those 60 tournaments prior to Wimbledon it has been an all-Williams final eight times, a remarkable strike rate.
Zheng, a former world number 27, who had her best Grand Slam when she reached the fourth round of Roland Garros in 2004, could cause Serena problems with her low, two-handed backhand that flies just above the net.
Serena has already spoken in an urgent, almost concerned way about how low balls bounce as the tournament progresses. Because of her height, 5ft 9ins to Zheng's 5ft 4ins, the lower the ball skids off the grass, the more the effort she has to make to get down.
"The balls, especially later on in the week, get so low that you never know what sort of bounce you are going to get. You kind of just got to be aggressive, I think," said Serena after the quarter-final.
But it is also all relative and to pick a weakness in the former champion's game based on the bounce of the ball seems churlish. But in a match where anything different from the norm will constitute an edge, Zheng's peculiarly low returns may take some adjustment.
"Serena is two times winner of Wimbledon and a very prominent player on the grass. For me it's my first semi-final and in 2004 in the first round I lost to Serena when she was defending champion," said Zheng, adding, "Of course I hope I can have better achievements when I'm playing her. But for now I want to keep my hopes as simple as possible."
Dementieva must first control herself before she can dream of controlling Venus, who plays her 17th major semi-final. She has had too many episodes of dominating a game only to seriously unravel. It happened against Nadia Petrova in the quarter-final when what should have been an easy two-setter became a skittish three-set dog-fight; it happened at Roland Garros, where Dinara Safina came back from match point down to win. That reverse was particularly hard for Dementieva to digest.
"I don't know. It just kind of comes to you in these kinds of moments and I was trying not to think about it and stay aggressive, stay focused," she said, visibly relieved to have survived the Petrova fight-back.
"I was just happy that I was able to go through such a difficult situation and was able to finish in a good way."
Dementieva's best result was the 2006 quarter-final, where she lost to Maria Sharapova, and she has returned to the top 10 this season, winning one event and reaching the final of two others to earn her best ranking in 18 months. This run has come from proven form and, mental frailties aside, the physical end of her game is largely robust.
She is strong, athletic and one of the best movers in the women's game. Her ground strokes can be lethal, though her serve is a proven liability. But she has learned to win games around the low-percentage first serves, leaving one to wonder how good she would be if she had an even adequate serve at her disposal.
But the sisters are clearly on a mission. If their tennis and the way they approach the game is to be meaningful at all to them, they need to win Grand Slam events and tilt at records. They have already played each other twice in Wimbledon finals, both of which the younger sister, Serena, won.
In the 2002 final, they became the first sisters to play each other in a Wimbledon final since the first ever ladies final, in 1884, when Maud Watson defeated her sibling Lillian 6-8, 6-3, 6-3.
This week the more garrulous Serena was asked if she thought the Williams name would be on this year's trophy.
"I surely hope so," she said before correcting herself. "I've got to say I believe so."
