Tennis: Venus ends Sharapova's reign, other semi unfinished

An elated Venus Williams savours her victory over Russia's Maria Sharapova in this morning's womens singles semi-final at Wimbledon. Picture / Reuters

American Venus Williams ended Maria Sharapova's reign as Wimbledon tennis champion with a ruthless 7-6 6-1 semifinal victory this morning.

Showing the kind of form which won her the title here in 2000 and 2001, Venus tamed the 18-year-old Russian in a hard-fought, high decibel battle and will now face Amelie Mauresmo or Lindsay Davenport. Their semifinal has been suspended by rain and will continue tonight (NZ time).

Venus, whose sister Serena beat her to win the title in 2002 and 2003 and lost to Sharapova last year, ensured that the Williams family would be represented in the Wimbledon final for a sixth successive year.

The 25-year-old had been overwhelmed by the second-seeded Sharapova in both of their previous meetings but on Thursday she refused to be intimidated by an opponent who had walked on to Centre Court on the back of a 22-match winning streak on grass.

Playing her first grand slam semi since 2003, Venus displayed her sheer determination as she stormed into the title match for the fifth time in six years.

When Sharapova hit a backhand wide on match point after one hour and 41 minutes of exhilarating action, Venus raised her arms in triumph.

A grim Sharapova hung her head low as she struggled to come to terms with her downfall as Venus continued her celebrations by jumping up and down and twirling around to acknowledge the cheers.

"Serena sent me an email and told me what to do and told me that I'm the best and I took her advice to heart," Venus said moments after walking off court.

On paper, as champion and second seed Sharapova had been clear favourite to beat Venus, who was seeded only 14th after a spell of unremarkable results.

But Venus turned the formbook on its head with a spectacular exhibition of power hitting.

After being confined the locker room for 4-1/2 hours thanks to persistent drizzle, Venus struck the first blow by taking a 4-2 lead when Sharapova dumped a forehand into the net at the end of a long rally on break point.

Sharapova, though, was not prepared to roll over and hit back in the ninth game.

Venus had two set points but watched both evaporate into the clouds overhead as Sharapova pounded away from the baseline.

Although Sharapova earned the break back, Venus could not be stopped in the ensuing tiebreak.

Twenty minutes after the American had been frustrated on her first attempts to secure the set, a Sharapova backhand error handed Venus the tiebreak 7-2.

Venus stepped up a gear in the second and raced towards victory as the Russian's game fell apart.

The American wasted her first match point, astonishing even herself by hitting an easy volley long despite having the entire court at her disposal, but she made no mistake on her second.

* Meanwhile, the second womens semi-final between Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo has been halted by rain. Davenport was leading the thriller 5-3 in the deciding set when the skies opened up.

- REUTERS