Serena downs Azarenka to book semi-final spot

Serena Williams stands just one match away from setting up another family showdown in the Wimbledon final after she hurtled into the last four with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Belarussian Victoria Azarenka on Tuesday.

The American was in stupendous form as she produced 25 winners, compared with only seven for her eighth seeded opponent, during the 73-minute exhibition of power tennis on Centre Court.

The US Open and Australian Open champion will next face Olympic champion and fourth seed Elena Dementieva.

However, fans and pundits alike feel that match will only be a formality for the American and she is being tipped to meet sister Venus in Saturday's showpiece match for the second year running at the grasscourt Grand Slam.

Dementieva reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the second straight year with a crushing 6-2, 6-2 victory over unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone.

The 29-year-old Schiavone had never passed the third round here in eight previous visits and rarely looked like threatening the crisp-hitting of the fourth-seeded Dementieva.

The Russian broke serve three times in the opening set and Schiavone's resistance proved equally ineffective in the second, and Dementieva progressed when the Italian veteran slapped a backhand over the baseline after 66 minutes.