Serena Williams saves a match point, rallies to beat Dementieva in Wimbledon semifinals

Serena saves match point, advances to semifinals

WIMBLEDON, 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.

Williams dominated on her serve in the first set after being broken in the first game of the match, but she couldn’t hang on in the tiebreaker. In the second, Williams went up a break early but allowed Dementieva back into the match before breaking again.

Dementieva has never won a Grand Slam title, but she lost in the final of the French Open and the U.S. Open in 2004.

In the other women’s semifinal, five-time champion and third-seeded Venus Williams is paired against top-ranked Dinara Safina. The Williams sisters have met in three previous Wimbledon finals, with Serena winning the first two and Venus coming out on top last year.