Thursday, July 3, 2008 | 11:58 a.m.
LONDON –- Women's semifinals day and you have to hand it to the committee here at the All England Club for having the foresight to hand a wild card to Zheng Jie of China (the tournament's No. 1 seed Ana Ivanovic may have had cause to disagree). Zheng was the second wild card in history to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam, following Monica Seles's runner-up finish at the 1995 U.S. Open. Her task today: Serena Williams.
The way in which Zheng saw off the opposition in her previous five matches was impressive to say the least. She became the first Chinese player, man or woman, to reach a Grand Slam semifinal and dropped just one set en-route. One hundred million viewers in China watched her quarterfinal match against Nicole Vaidisova.
Zheng, who celebrates her 25th birthday on Saturday, Ladies Finals day, tugged at the heartstrings when she announced that she would be donating all her prize money to the Chinese earthquake disaster relief fund. Having missed the event in 2007 due to an ankle injury, this is her third appearance here. Her first was in 2004, when she fell to eventual runner-up Serena Williams. With 11 career Tour doubles titles to her name, this year she and her doubles partner, Yan Zi, reached the Australian Open semifinals and defeated Serena and Venus Williams on the way.
Today’s match pitted Zheng’s gile against Serena’s power. The first set went by quickly as the American used her strength to overpower the nervy start by Zheng. Suddenly the set was over at 6-2 after 28 minutes. Rain-breaks so often allow the struggling player to regroup and come out with more focus. That's exactly what Zheng did. Suddenly we had a match on our hands as Zheng, fist pumping for every winner, broke Williams to take a 5-3 lead. Williams broke back immediately for 5-4, then held serve to level at 5-5. Zheng battled back and had a point to level the match. However the two-time champion edged a tight tiebreak to seal victory as Zheng double faulted at 5-6 to hand her victory. No birtjhday present for Zheng on Saturday but a standing ovation for her as she left the Centre Court.
Russia's Elena Dementieva was the other woman assigned to halt the Williams steamroller. This was her first semifinal in 10 Wimbledons. She’s played in 39 Grand Slam events, and the U.S. Open has been kindest, with two semifinals and one final. She also made it the final at Roland Garros in 2004. This year saw her return to the Top 10.
The match began with Dementieva electing to serve. She’s not known for her proficiency in serving, as she seldom makes it anywhere near the 100 mph mark. Her decision allowed Williams to get off to good start with an early break and wrapped the set up 6-1 in 38 minutes. In the second set Williams broke again to lead 2-0. Dementieva then came to life as she broke the Williams serve and clawed her way to a tie-break, wailing and groaning frequently, as shots evaded her. She established a 3-2 lead in the breaker but was then denied another point as Venus took the set and match. Certainly not a great match from both players. A total of 22 unforced errors from the Russian and 19 from the American.
But Venus Williams still goes through to the final having not dropped a set. She'd reached the final for the seventh time this century and showed her extreme pleasure by jumping up and down repeatedly and almost uncontrollably. "When I'm excited I always jump. That I guess will never change," she said.
What also never changed is the joy that both of these expressed all week at the prospect of meeting each other in the Final on Saturday. "She's going to be a tough opponent," Venus said. "As far as I'm concerned it's every Williams for himself."
In the rain-delayed match for yesterday, Rainer Schuttler booked a semifinal showdown against Rafael Nadal with a marathon victory over Arnaud Clement. They were locked at one-set-all overnight when bad light stopped play. After sharing the next two sets, the German held his nerve after a break in the 13th game for a 6-3 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (7-9) 8-6 win in more than five hours.
James Borg, a freelance journalist, has covered the All-England Lawn Tennis Championships for 31 years. He spent a few months in Las Vegas and did work for Caesars Palace. He lives in London
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy