Venus wallops her way into final

Venus Williams walloped and screamed her way into her sixth Wimbledon final with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Serbian teenager Ana Ivanovic on Friday.

The three-times former champion took immediate control with a double break to go 4-0 up in the first set and then dominated her 19-year-old opponent with aggressive play at the net, powerful serves and deep groundstrokes.

- Federer, Nadal cruise into semis

- Djokovic wins five-hour battle against Baghdatis

After wasting the first of two set points with a double fault, she forced Ivanovic to hit long to hand her the set.

Williams broke early in the second but this time Ivanovic wiped out the advantage with a scorching forehand winner in the fourth game.

The American grabbed another break in the seventh and powered her way to three match points on Ivanovic's serve in the ninth.

As in her quarter-final match, Ivanovic saved the three match points but in the next game hit out to allow Williams to claim her place in Saturday's final where she will face either world number one Justine Henin or 18th seed Marion Bartoli.