Venus Williams easily reaches 8th Wimbledon final by routing top-ranked Safina

July 25th, 2009 Top-ranked Safina reaches Slovenia Open finalPORTOROZ, Slovenia — Top-ranked Dinara Safina has reached her seventh final of the year by beating Alberta Brianti of Italy 6-4, 6-3 at the Slovenia Open. Safina had little difficulty in ousting the 107th-ranked Brianti in 1 hour, 34 minutes on Saturday.

July 22nd, 2009 Safina reaches quarterfinals at Slovenia OpenPORTOROZ, Slovenia — Top-ranked Dinara Safina has cruised into the quarterfinals of the Slovenia Open by routing fellow Russian Ksenia Pervak 6-1, 6-2. Safina was playing her first tournament since losing to Venus Williams in the Wimbledon semifinals.

July 13th, 2009 HAMBURG - Dinara Safina of Russia maintained her top spot on the women's tennis rankings issued by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Monday. Safina, who was beaten in straight sets by Venus Williams in the Wimbledon semi-finals earlier this month, leads an unchanged top 10 with 10,521 points.

July 6th, 2009 HAMBURG - Dinara Safina of Russia maintained her top spot in the women's tennis rankings issued Monday by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) after she yet again failed to get a first career Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. Safina, crushed in straight sets by Venus Williams in the Wimbledon semi-finals last week, leads an unchanged top 10 with 10,521 points.

July 4th, 2009 Serena beats sister Venus in Wimbledon finalWIMBLEDON, England — Serena Williams has won her third Wimbledon title, beating sister Venus Williams 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the final. The second-seeded Serena also beat Venus in the 2002 and '03 Wimbledon finals, but lost to her older sibling in last year's championship match at the All England Club.

July 4th, 2009 Serena remains No. 2 despite another major titleWIMBLEDON, England — Even with three of the last four Grand Slam titles in her possession, Serena Williams will stay behind No.

July 2nd, 2009 Serena saves match point, advances to semifinalsWIMBLEDON, England — Serena Williams saved a match point and rallied to beat Elena Dementieva 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6 Thursday, reaching the Wimbledon final for the second year in a row. The two-time Wimbledon champion saved the match point with a backhand volley while trailing 5-4 in the third set.

July 1st, 2009 LONDON - Ahead of their semi-final clash, world No. 1 Dinara Safina has warned five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams that she is set to repeat her Rome victory.

June 30th, 2009 Safina rallies past Lisicki in Wimbledon quartersWIMBLEDON, England — Dinara Safina has reached her first Wimbledon semifinal after rallying to beat German teenager Sabine Lisicki 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1 The top-ranked Russian looked shaky at times and double-faulted 15 times Tuesday, including on set point in the tiebreaker. But she broke the 19-year-old Lisicki four times in the decider and converted her first match point when the German missed a backhand wide The match was played on a sun-drenched Centre Court, and Lisicki needed a medical timeout in the third set to have her right calf massaged and iced.

June 30th, 2009 Serena Williams joins Venus in Wimbledon semisWIMBLEDON, England — Serena Williams is back in the Wimbledon semifinals after beating Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-2, 6-3. Williams broke the eighth-seeded Azarenka for a 5-3 lead in the second set and then served out the match at love Tuesday, converting her first match point with a forehand winner.

June 29th, 2009 SWilliams reaches Wimbledon quarterfinalsWIMBLEDON, England — Serena Williams has reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals after defeating Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1. The second-seeded Williams lost just two points on her first serve Monday and broke Hantuchova five times to complete the win in 56 minutes.

June 27th, 2009 Venus Williams moves into 4th round at WimbledonWIMBLEDON, England — Venus Williams has powered her way into the second week of Wimbledon, defeating Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-0, 6-4 Saturday to reach the fourth round. Williams is trying to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1991-93 to win three consecutive titles at the All England Club.

June 25th, 2009 Safina reaches 3rd round at WimbledonWIMBLEDON, England — Top-ranked Dinara Safina is a step closer to her first Grand Slam title after beating Rossana de Los Rios of Paraguay 6-3, 7-5 in the second round at Wimbledon. The 23-year-old Russian never faced a break point Thursday and took the first set with a hard forehand down the line.

June 22nd, 2009 HAMBURG - Dinara Safina of Russia took the women's number one ranking in tennis into the Wimbledon fortnight which began Monday. Safina has 9,801 points in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) list as she eyes her first career Grand Slam title after losing three finals at the majors in the past.

June 17th, 2009 Nadal and Safina seeded No. 1 for WimbledonWIMBLEDON, England — Defending champion Rafael Nadal and top-ranked women's player Dinara Safina were seeded No.