It was the women’s match of this Wimbledon, brimming with baseline power and lunging defence, and the surprise was that Serena Williams was just one point from losing it to Elena Dementieva. But Williams, hardly for the first time, found a way to fight and serve her way through big tennis trouble. Down, 4-5, 30-40, on her serve in the third set, she pushed forward to the net. Dementieva sprinted to her left and hit a backhand passing shot crosscourt that Williams cut off with a backhand volley that clipped the net and landed for a winner.

Match point saved, or squandered, depending on your perspective, as Dementieva thrust out her hand and pointed down the line where she should have, could have, hit her passing shot instead.

There would be no second chance, although there was plenty more high-level tennis with the fourth-seeded Dementieva living quite comfortably at Williams’s accelerated pace and keeping her routinely off balance. But while the second-seeded Williams was stretched, pushed and shaken, she could not be beaten, and she broke Dementieva’s serve in the 13th game with a clean backhand winner, then held on to her own serve to win, 6-7 (4) 7-5 8-6.

Serena Williams will now face her sister Venus, who had a far easier time in defeating top-seeded Dinara Safina, 6-1 6-0. The women’s championship match on Saturday will be a rematch of last year’s final and will be the fourth time the sisters have met for the title. Serena beat her sister in 2002 and 2003, while Venus, a five-time Wimbledon champion, beat Serena last year.

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