Venus Williams is playing her best tennis in years. If anybody doubted that, their doubts were dispelled by her strong performance in Thursday's Wimbledon semi-finals where she defeated defending champion Maria Sharapova 7-6 (2), 6-1.
Williams kept Sharapova off balance and on the run with strong ground strokes to the corners of the court. Her first serve was also clocked at 114 miles per hour or better, much closer to the speed it had when she was the dominant women's tennis player in the world four years ago.
Williams spent most of the match at the baseline and just outplayed the Russian teenager. Williams had 23 winners compared to just 13 for Sharapova. Venus also broke Sharapova's serve four times.
Williams was seeded 14th at this tournament. When Sharapova's backhand shot went wide on match point, Williams threw her fists into the air in jubilation and started laughing much to the approval of the fans watching the match on Centre Court.
Williams will face the winner of the match between top seeded Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo in the Ladies' Finals on Saturday.
