Murray faces big task if he is to shoot down roddick

Murray faces Andy Roddick in today's second semi-final on Centre Court and the British number one has been warned by John McEnroe that he had better be ready. Roddick holds the record for the fastest serve in Tennis at 155mph. His fastest serve so far in this tournament is 141mph and so far he has thundered down 139 aces, second only to Ivo Karlovic. McEnroe said: "He possesses one major weapon in that serve. It's the hardest I've ever seen. At the very least he has a puncher's chance, so Murray better be ready. "Roddick's a smart guy and the pressure being off should help him." But while Roddick's serve is an obvious threat, Murray, whose epic fourth-round encounter against Stanislas Wawrinka attracted 12.6m BBC viewers at its peak, has demonstrated during Wimbledon 2009 that he has matured into the complete Tennis player. His own first serve has been clocking in at more than 130mph regularly on the speed gun, while his ability to switch defence into devastating attack with the variety of his shot-making has been the feature of the tournament. Roddick has traced Murray's rapid rise and puts much of it down to the maturity and experience he gained in defeating Richard Gasquet in a five-set thriller last year. The American number one said: "I think this tournament did wonders for him last year, especially the Gasquet match. Everyone thought it was going to be a matter of time. He's certainly capable of hitting all the shots. It's just a matter of being able to do it day after day now. "There's a certain comfort level where you go out there and it's like second nature. I think he's acquired that since last year. "He doesn't really have a lot of weaknesses, or any for that matter. He's improved his serve a lot. He returns well. He's certainly come into his own as a player." Roddick reached the Wimbledon final in 2004 and 2005, losing both times to Roger Federer. His one grand slam success came at the 2003 US Open, but while his one-dimensional game appeared to have been left behind by players such as Federer, he proved he is still a force by reaching the semis of the Australian Open in January. Roddick said: "With my serve I can give myself a chance in any match. I'm going to have to play well and hopefully he would probably say the same. He's certainly in the conversation among the best returners." Venus and Serena Williams have set up a re-match of last year's Wimbledon women's final after winning their respective semi-finals yesterday. Venus destroyed world number one Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0 with a devastating exhibition of power play. The Russian simply could not live with the reigning champion. That performance will surely make the elder of the two sisters the favourite to take the title tomorrow, especially after younger sibling Serena toiled against Russian Elena Dementieva in her semi. Fourth seed Dementieva was not expected to trouble her more powerful opponent but she shot out of the traps on Centre Court, serving well and taking the first set on a tie-break. An upset looked to be on the cards when Dementieva then went a break of serve up halfway through the second set. But Williams broke back and grabbed the momentum, holding on to her serve bravely and breaking again to take the set 7-5. Dementieva broke again early in the decider but was again immediately hauled back by Williams. From there on the pair could not be separated until Williams struck the fatal blow by first breaking Dementieva's serve to take a 7-6 lead, before serving out to clinch a memorable win.