by By STEPHEN WILSON , The Boston Herald

Two-time champion Serena saved a match point and overcame Elena Dementieva 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6 in 2 hours, 49 minutes - the longest women's semifinal at Wimbledon in at least 40 years. Five-time winner Venus, meanwhile, needed only 51 minutes to demolish Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0 and reach her eighth Wimbledon final.

The sisters - with 17 Grand Slam titles between them - will face each other tomorrow in a Fourth of July final.

``A fourth final - it's so exciting. It was so hard before my match to watch all that drama,'' Venus said, referring to Serena's semifinal. ``It was so difficult. But the hardest part is next to come, to play Serena Williams.''

One Williams or the other has won seven of the past nine championships at the All England Club. Serena beat Venus in the 2002 and '03 finals, and Venus came out on top against her younger sister last year.

The difference in the two semifinals couldn't have been more striking. The Serena-Dementieva match was the longest women's Wimbledon semifinal by time since 1969; records are incomplete before then. Venus' win was the most one-sided women's semifinal since Billie Jean King beat Rosie Casals by the same score in 1969.

After Serena's tense, drama-filled escape against Dementieva, Venus barely broke a sweat against Safina. The Russian is ranked and seeded No. 1 despite never having won a Grand Slam tournament. Safina won only 20 points and was completely outclassed by the third-seeded Venus, who has been playing some of her best grass-court Tennis at this tournament.

``She's just too good on grass,'' Safina said. ``It's not my favorite surface, and it's her favorite surface. I think she gave me a pretty good lesson today.''

Serena, meanwhile, was pushed to the limit by the fourth-seeded Dementieva but raised her game when needed.

``It's definitely one of my more dramatic victories, for sure,'' Serena said.

In the 10th game of the final set, Serena faced match point on her serve with Dementieva ahead 5-4. Serena chose to attack, coming forward and hitting a backhand volley that skipped off the net cord and into the open court for a winner.

It was Serena's eighth straight win in a Grand Slam semifinal going back to the 2003 French Open. She is 14-2 overall in Grand Slam semifinals.

The men's semifinals are today, with two-time finalist Andy Roddick playing Andy Murray and five-time champion Roger Federer facing Germany's Tommy Haas.

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