The long and the short of semifinal Thursday for the women at Wimbledon is another final between Serena and Venus Williams, their second in a row and fourth overall.
More specifically, the short was Venus' 51-minute demolition job against No. 1 Dinara Safina. The long was the epic clash between Serena and Elena Dementieva. The Russian had a match point and momentum proved constantly fickle, but Serena got the breaks.
Greg Garber was on hand in London, savoring the action and trying not to catch the Andy Murray bug that's infecting the nation.
Zach (Harrisonburg, Virginia)
Judging from Serena's escape I don't see Venus having any problems handling her in the final...did Dementieva just play spectacular today or was Serena a little off? I'm not that surprised by a third set but at the same time the fact that it was so close as opposed to lopsided surprised me.
Greg Garber
Dementieva played the best match I've ever seen her play. Her groundstrokes were more solid than Serena's and her serve held up pretty well. Key to the match was two points, both break points that would have put Dementieva in better position to win. Both points were replayed -- one a Serena shot that was IN by a millimeter and the second a ball from Dementieva that was OUT by a millimeter. Crazy, crazy close match. Dementieva will get a lot of credit, even in losing.
Ben (Cincinnati)
This might have been asked already but if Murray was to win this, just how big of a celebration would that set off in London and throughout the UK? I imagine it wouldn't be as big as England winning the World Cup but I'd like to think that it would be a big party. No?
Greg Garber
Ben: See the story we posted today. The local writers say it would be Britain's biggest sporting victory since 1966 -- when England won its only World Cup, against Germany. That's pretty huge. The TV rankings are going through the roof and one Internet site s offering finals tickets for 20,000 pounds! Full transcript.
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