America's Venus Williams is into her seventh Wimbledon final since 2000

Williams, aiming for her fifth Wimbledon title, overpowered her fifth-seeded opponent with an array of blistering serves and ferocious groundstrokes.

Williams was always in control, finally bringing proceedings to a halt after one hour and 41 minutes on Centre Court.

"She is a similar player to me with a lot of power so I knew I'd have to do what we both do a little better," Williams, seventh seed, said.

"It was important I managed to get ahead in the tiebreak and not let it go."

Dementieva, the highest seed left at the tournament, had little answer to the four-time champion's aggressiveness, as the American came up to the net to unleash an aggressive overhead shot across the court to take the first set.

The at the 26-year-old Russian, appearing in the last four at Wimbledon for the first time, made more of a contest of it in the second set, managing a rare break of the Williams serve and surprising her 28-year-old American opponent with some excellent passing shots.

Williams won the second set tiebreak after a series of errors by Dementieva, sealing it with a powerful forehand and will face her younger sister for the third time in a Wimbledon final if Serena beats China's Zheng Jie in the Thursday's other semi-final.

Venus said she would relish the prospect of a rematch with Serena, to whom she lost in the Wimbledon finals of 2002 and 2003.

"I am looking forward to that final and I am dying for S. Williams to get through," Venus, the elder of the sisters, said.

"This is my seventh final and I'm looking forward to playing her for a third time in the final so I will be rooting for her [in the semi-final]."

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