WIMBLEDON (England) - FOR the eighth time in 10 years, the Wimbledon women's trophy will be lifted by a Williams.

The Williams sisters are back in the final again - Venus for the eighth time and Serena for the fifth. And it's the fourth Williams-vs-Williams final at the All England Club and eighth in a Grand Slam title match.

Fittingly, the show will take place on the Fourth of July, Independence Day in the United States. 'The more we play, the better it gets,' Serena said. 'When we play our match on Saturday, it's for everything. This is what we dreamed of when we were growing up in Compton (California) 20-something years ago. This is what we worked for, and this is what we want.'

If the semifinals are anything to go by, five-time winner and two-time defending champion Venus is clearly the one to beat.

Two-time champion Serena had to save a match point and use all her fighting skills to overcome Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6 in a tense match on Thursday that lasted 2 hours, 49 minutes - longer than any Wimbledon women's semifinal in at least 40 years.

The Centre Court spectators barely had time to pop out for a refreshment and settle back into their seats by the time Venus completed a 6-1, 6-0 demolition of Dinara Safina in 51 minutes - the most lopsided women's semifinal since 1969.

'The hardest part is next to come - to play Serena Williams,' Venus said. Venus won Wimbledon in 2000 and '01 before Serena beat her older sister in the 2002 and '03 finals. Venus won again in 2005 and 2007 and beat Serena in last year's final. Serena holds a 5-2 lead in all-Williams championship matches at Grand Slams. Overall, the sisters are 10-10.

Venus is bidding to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1991-93 to win Wimbledon three years in a row. Venus was cheering for Serena to win on Thursday, but will now do all she can to stop her sister and win her eighth major title.

First, the sisters will set aside their rivalry to team up on Friday in the women's doubles semifinals. They have already won three Wimbledon's doubles titles and are the defending champions.

The contrast in the two women's semifinals couldn't have been more striking. After Serena's back-and-forth marathon against a revitalised Dementieva, Venus lost only 20 points against an overmatched Safina. -- AP