Venus Williams turned on the style to secure a third successive Wimbledon final appearance after a one-sided repeat of the 2001 showdown with Belgian Justine Henin. The two-time champion remains firmly on course to emulate Steffi Graff and Martina Navratilova by completing a hat-trick of women's singles titles following an emphatic 6-3 6-2 semi-final victory.
Henin only briefly threatened to halt the march of the champion, who provided yet another illustration of her awesome power. Williams, who has taken a while to hit top gear in all her matches at the All-England Club this year lost the first game of the match. But Williams broke back soon afterwards and got another in the eighth game and served to win the first set.
Henin, who lost to Williams in the final here last year, battled gamely on but the American just pounded her into submission and won the second set in just over half an hour. The top seed will now play her sister Serena in the final on Saturday.
Filed by James Shortt
