Serena Williams roared into a her seventh Wimbledon singles final with a 6-3, 7-6 victory over Victoria Azarenka on Thursday.
The 30-year-old American, contesting a 21st grand slam semi-final, was unstoppable in the opening set as Belarus's Azarenka barely got a sniff of a chance.
However, the second set was a much tighter affair as Azarenka clawed her way into the match, breaking the Williams serve for the first time in the sixth game.
She pushed the four-times champion into a tiebreak and saved a match point when Williams lobbed long but gave her opponent another chance and the American took it with her 24th ace.
She will face Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in Saturday's final.
Earlier Radwanska of Poland overpowered German Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday to reach her first Wimbledon final.
The third seed proved too consistent for the eighth-seeded Kerber, who led the first set 3-1 following an early break.
But Radwanska broke back to level at 3-3 and did so again to lead 5-3 before serving out for the set.
Radwanska broke again early in the second set and she never allowed Kerber back into the match, sealing victory on her first match point to become only the second Polish woman to reach a grand slam final.
