LONDON, June 30: Former double champion Venus Williams dethroned Centre Court queen and defending champion Maria Sharapova 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 on Thursday to book a place in her fifth Wimbledon final.

The 25-year-old American, the winner in 2000 and 2001, will take on either top seeded compatriot Lindsay Davenport or Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo for the title on Saturday where she will be chasing a fifth Grand Slam title.

The semifinal between the 14th seeded Williams and the Russian second seed was delayed by over four hours because of rain.

But when it did finally get underway both women unleashed an uncompromising display of brutal power hitting, the violence of which was matched by a rapid escalation of screams and squeals from both sides of the net.

Williams grabbed the first break in the opening set to lead 4-2 and then held for 5-2.

But Sharapova battled back and matched the American shot for shot and scream for scream as the noise levels from both women rocketed with the intensity of the exchanges.

Williams bashed a vicious down-the-line forehand to carve out two set points in the ninth game.

The Russian though stayed in the set by saving both, the last of which was secured with a blistering cross-court forehand before she broke to go 4-5 when Williams hit long.

The two women the held on to reach the tiebreaker.

Two early errors from Sharapova handed the initiative to Williams who hit her way to four set points and the American clinched the opener after 62 minutes when the champion, forced from side to side, could only direct a backhand long.

The exertions of the first set seemed to take their toll on Sharapova who was broken immediately to love at the start of the second set and then wasted two break points to slip 2-0 down.

From that point, the 18-year-old’s spirit was sapped.

She was broken again to go 1-4 down and wasted two break points in the sixth game which lasted nine minutes.

As the skies darkened, Sharapova saved one match point in the seventh game but hit a tired, loose forehand wide of the mark to hand Williams the tie after 1hr 42min of intriguing action.

Sharapova came in without the loss of a set.

“I took it one match at a time,” said Williams, a former world number 1 who has fallen on hard times in the game.

“I wasn’t sure today if we were even going to get to play.”

The match, whose start was delayed by more than four hours, featured high drama, with Williams missing on a match point in the second set and reaching her second 25 minutes later before finally closing out victory.

Women’s singles

Semifinals:

Venus Williams (USA x14) bt Maria Sharapova (RUS x2) 7-6 (7/2), 6-1.

Men’s doubles:

Quarterfinal:

Jonas Bjorkman/Max Mirnyi (SWE/BLR x1) bt Rainer Schuettler/Alexander Waske (GER/GER) 7-5, 6-3, 6-2

Mixed doubles:

Quarterfinals:

Paul Hanley/Tatiana Perebiynis (AUS/UKR) bt Mariano Hood/Gisela Dulko (ARG/ARG) 6-3, 6-4.—Agencies