July 07, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 21, 1428

LONDON, July 6: Venus Williams once again displayed an appetite for humbling higher ranked opponents on Friday beating sixth-seeded Serb Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-4 to reach the Wimbledon final.

The 31st-ranked American has already gobbled up second seed Maria Sharapova and fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova this week.

Marion Bartoli stunned top seed Justine Henin in the other semi final on Friday, beating the world number one 1-6, 7-5, 6-1.The 22-year-old Frenchwoman, seeded 18th, produced a dazzling display to hit back from a torrid first set and book a Saturday showdown with three-time champion Venus.

There was no hint of what was to come when Henin raced through the first set in 22 minutes.

Bartoli began to gain in confidence in the second set, saved two break points at 5-5, then went on a sensational run of seven successive games to leave Henin shell-shocked.

Henin, 25, stopped the rot at 0-5 but Bartoli showed no nerves as she served out to love for the biggest win of her career.

Earlier on Friday, the rare sight of the sun at this year’s Wimbledon brought out the ruthless streaks in Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

After days of unrelenting rain at the grasscourt grand slam, the world's two best players continued to play catch up and stood only one match away from a final collision.

A merciless Nadal flexed his well toned muscles for a 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 quarter-final victory over Czech Tomas Berdych.

The 21-year-old Spaniard would have been especially pleased with his brisk workout following the two five setters he had to endure in the previous rounds.

Nadal must have been rubbing his hands in glee as his semi-final opponent, Novak Djokovic, was engaged in an exhausting five-hour thriller before eventually subduing Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 4-6, 7-5.

Federer dropped his first set of these championships but that did not stop the Swiss from streaking to a 7-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Ferrero, a clay-loving Spaniard, playing in his first Wimbledon quarters would not usually have provided much of a threat to Federer’s progress towards a 13th consecutive grand slam semi-final.

But a gusting wind and some pin-point groundstrokes from Ferrero threw the Swiss off course in the second set before he restored calm to chalk up his 32nd consecutive win at the All England Club.

More significantly for 25-year-old Federer, he is now only two matches away from matching Bjorn Borg's feat of five successive Wimbledon crowns.

Friday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding)

Men’s

Singles (quarter-finals): 4-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat 10-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) 7-6(4), 7-6(9), 6-7(3), 4-6, 7-5; 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat 20-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3; 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat 7-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 7-6(1), 6-4, 6-2.

Women’s:

Singles (semi-finals): 23-Venus Williams (US) beat 6-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 6-2, 6-4; 18-Marion Bartoli (France) beat 1-Justine Henin (Belgium) 1-6, 7-5, 6-1.—Reuters