Live Wimbledon Blog / Sean Calvert / 03 July 2008 / Leave a comment

It's semi-final day in the ladies draw and the Williams sisters are looking a safe bet to be playing the final on Saturday. Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco will be in the hot seat for the first hour or so with Sean Calvert taking over from that point onwards. If you want to e-mail either us with your thoughts or comments write to sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk.

18.42: Zheng gets lucky with a net cord and then Serena blasts one long and the wild card is back in it at only 5-6 down.

Zheng serves at 5-6, but it's a double and it's all over for her.

We have another all-Williams final and who could predict the outcome with any confidence?

Elena Dementieva tried in her post-match presser, but could only say that the result would be 'a family affair', which was leapt on by a few journalists as something to ask Venus about.

Venus baulked at the suggestion that the family would decide the winner and rightly so of course.

It could be a good match for a trade that one, with an ebb and flow guaranteed.

Anyway, that's the end of another fascinating day's play at SW19 and I'm off for some well-earned rest before coming back tomorrow to see if Schuettler can recover to give Nadal a game and can Safin roll back the years and give Fed a decent game??

18.35: Serena blasts her 13th ace past Zheng and goes 4-2 up at the changeover.

She follows that up with a 122mph blaster down the middle and it's 5-2. There's no way back for Zheng surely?

18.32: Zheng had a set point on the Williams second serve and slapped it against the very top of the tape at the top of the net.

Williams lets out a huge cry of 'COME ON' when getting back to advantage and she's really giving it the full grunting upon hitting each shot.

Two big serves give Serena the game and we are into a breaker.

18.30: Finally it's all over!! Schuettler serves it out on his third match point and the marathon is over and my bank balance is boosted!

Back on Centre, we're heading for a tie break in the second set between Williams and Zheng.

Serena is [1.09] to make an all-Williams final.

18.21: Schuettler takes the first two points and is now serving for the match - again.

Can he do it this time? He's [1.19]

18.18: Right then off we go again and it's Clement to serve in bright sunshine.
It's [1.89] Schuettler and [2.12] Clement.

Come on Rainer!!

18.05: The sooner they get the roof on Centre Court the better as far as I'm concerned. All this stopping and starting is so aggravating for everyone concerned, but mainly the players of course.

Thankfully the sun is out, we have a rainbow and we'll have play in a minute as Clement serves at deuce and 6-6 on Court One and Jie Zheng has a game point at 5-5 in the second set against Serena Williams.

The weather looks set to be a bit more settled for a while, so we could conceivably have 10 minutes of play and both matches could be finished!

The Beeb have just had Henman going on about his rain affected semi final with Goran in 2001. If only eh Tim? If only..

17.55: Well, it's still raining and Sue Barker has given away the answer to the question, which was Greg Holmes beating Todd Witsken in five hours 28 minutes in the second round in 1989.

I don't think there's going to be any more play for at least another 20 minutes due to persistent rain.

Clement and Schuettler must be getting fed up with this, as they try and rest their 30 plus-year-old limbs in readiness for the last push before one of them has to face Nadal tomorrow.

Hang on though.. the sun has just broken through as I type and it looks like the covers might be coming off. Fingers crossed for some play soon then!

17.25: It looks like we might be without play for another 20 minutes or so as another patch of heavy rain is expected.

In the meantime can anyone tell me the longest singles match in Wimbledon history? And it's not Charlie Passarella v Pancho Gonzalez!

Email them in to sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk

16.57: Clement chucks in a double and hands his opponent two break points, but comes back with a flying volley to save the first one.

It's raining now quite hard and there's thunder in the air, but play goes on.

He saves the second break point as well and now they've gone off again. Schuettler's having a strop and it's a tropical thunderstorm out there!!

What else can happen in this match??

Zheng is 40-30 up at 5-5 on Centre.

16.55: This could go on for some time. Clement breaks back to 15 and this has all the makings of one of the longest matches ever as they go over the five hour mark.

The betting is pretty even now as it's become a bit of a lottery.

On Centre it's 5-5 with Zheng to serve and her price has come in to [14.0]

16.52: The German breaks and will come out and serve for the match at 6-5!!

Zheng is keeping Serena up to her work and the second set has been a much more competitive affair.

Come on Rainer!!

16.50: Schuettler holds and it's 5-5 after 4 hours and 52 minutes of play spread over two days.

These two veterans will be hoping for another rain break and it looks like they might get their wish as the clouds loom large overhead again.

Serena has pulled herself together again and she levels at 4-4.

16.45: As soon as I say that, Zheng breaks!! She's 4-2 ahead now in the second set and Serena has taken her eye off the ball a bit here.

Meanwhile, on Court One, Schuettler has just fought off a match point! It's all happening just at the moment.

16.35: Zheng is giving it her best shot, but she's not really making any impression on Serena's serve.

It's 2-2 now with Zheng to serve, but over on Court One it's getting to the business end of the match with Schuettler to serve to stay in it at 4-5.

The German is now [2.2] for victory, while the Frenchman is [1.8]

I still feel Rainer will come through in the end, although it won't cost me anything if he doesn't any more!

16.25: That didn't take long! Williams serves the set out to love and Zheng drifts out to [27.0] for the match.

Serena and Venus have had some cracking matches in the past, but they've only met once in tournament play since 2005, which was in Bangalore this year, Serena winning in three sets.

On grass, they've met three times with Serena edging it 2-1. Two of those were the Wimbledon final and Serena won both and she is now [1.82] for the title against Venus's [2.24].

Who do you think will come out on top this time? Email sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk

16.20: We're back and ready to go after the rain delay.

Serena Williams will be serving for the set shortly and is now [1.04] for the match.

16.00: They're off on Court One as well now. Slightly strange that they would keep playing in the rain when Centre were off, but anyway it's [1.88] Schuettler and [2.10] Clement.

It looks like just a shower, so we should be back with some live action very shortly.

Any comments in the meantime, the place to send them is sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk

15.50: They're off.. the rain has become heavier and Serena will have to wait for half an hour or so to serve out the set.

Bizarrely they're still playing on Court One and Schuettler has fought back from a break down to be back on serve at 2-2.

The prices are roughly evens the pair.

15.40: You're laughing if you are on the Williams sisters double as advised by Betfair tipster Ben Caudell this morning at [1.41].

Williams is clearly superior in all departments and this match might not last long, which might be a good thing as the clouds are looking ominous in the SW19 skies.

The wind's picking up as well as a few spots of rain start to fall.

Zheng manages to hold (just) and Williams will be serving for the first set at 5-2 in a few moments.

15.35: This is all I need. Schuettler slices a backhand approach long and gives Clement the set 9-7 on the breaker.

It's more or less evens the pair now and Nadal must be having fun watching this.

Back on Centre and Williams has broken again and is 5-1 up on Zheng. She can be backed at [1.04] for the match now.

15.30: Zheng is on the board now, but Williams holds for a 3-1 lead and is still around the [1.11] mark.

It's another tense breaker on Court 1 as Schuettler fights off two Clement set points to fight back to 6-6 at the change of ends.

Whoever wins this will be exhausted and surely in no fit state to play Nadal tomorrow!

15.22: Straightforward hold for Serena and this is going to be tough for Zheng.

Over on Court 1 it's another breaker between Clement and Schuettler and I'm happy to have laid my bet on the German off at [1.12] when he was a break up in the set earlier!

15.20: Hmm.. a bit of a nervy start from the wild card serving first and Serena stamps her authority on proceedings straight away with a break.

She's down to [1.11] already and Zheng will need to get some more first serves in to have any chance today.

15.10: So, another fairly routine victory for Venus Williams and another all Williams final is very much on the cards.

It will be the first one at Wimbledon since 2003, which Serena won and it is the younger sister who's in action next against Chinese wild card Jie Zheng.

Lots of stats around about Zheng: - Second lowest ranked player to reach this stage ever; first from China; and the secind ever wild card after Monica Seles to get this far.

Can she cause one of the biggest upsets ever at Wimbledon? She's [7.4] to do so as against Williams' [1.15] quote, which is roughly the same as Murray v Nadal last night.

Any Zheng followers out there? Email me at sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk

14.55: Blimey..that's the most piercing and lengthy scream I've heard since the days of the old Hammer Horror movies on BBC 2 late nights in the 1980's!!

Dementieva let it out after netting a forehand and Venus eases to victory 7-3 in the breaker.

14.52: The nerves are showing now from both players! Venus served a double followed by a wild forehand wide and Dementieva chipped in with an awful unforced error.

The standard has gone right down, but it makes for exciting viewing! It's 4-3 Williams with two serves to come.

14.50: The Russian has managed to hold and we're into a breaker to decide the second set.

Dementieva has thrown in a double early on to give Venus the first mini-break at 2-1.

14.45: Virginia Wade is still coming to terms with the Williams power game and using adjectives such as 'awesome' on commentary.

You would have thought she'd be used to it by now - the Williams sisters have been around for a while you know Ms Wade!

Easy hold for Williams - a love game and she goes to 6-5. The tie break (assuming she gets there) is the last chance saloon for Elena.

The prices are unchanged, but over on Court One, my man Rainer has broken at 3-1 and is now down to [1.13] for a place in the semi finals.

14.35: Dementieva is throwing in a few of those trademark screams as she struggles to make a major impression on the Williams serve.

She's still in it though and serving at 4-5 at a price of [13.5] for a remarkable recovery win.

Schuettler meanwhile is in to [1.31] with a 2-1 lead in the fourth set on serve.

14.25: I've seen it all now! I was a bit quick off the mark a minute ago in saying Schuettler had won the breaker.

To be fair he was 6-0 up and it's a pretty safe bet with six set points that he would take it from there, but Clement has taken six in a row.

I've never seen anyone lose a set after having six consecutive set points, but thankfully Clement has just chucked in a double and a Schuettler ace gives it to him in the end.

Back on Centre now and although I shouldn't use the words 'fight' and 'Dementieva' in the same sentence, it appears that she's giving it a bit of a go at last.

The crowd are getting behind her, presumably to get some value for money for their tickets, but it's now 4-3 to Venus and the current champion is [1.07] for victory.

14.15: Well, well, well, what's this on Centre Court now? Surely not a Dementieva comeback?

She's back on serve at 2-2 and giving Venus a hard time on serve at deuce. Can't see this temporary bout of stubbornness lasting for too long.

Venus has edged out to [1.13] for the win.

Meanwhile of more financial interest to me, Schuettler has just stormed through the third set tie break against Clement and goes two sets to one up. I like that!

14.10: Afternoon all.. Sean Calvert here.. time for another stint in the hotseat and it all looks like plain sailing for Venus at the moment against the notoriously flaky Elena Dementieva.

I won't be too harsh on Elena because she's made me a few quid over the years - generally by laying her any time she serves when ahead. You can't go wrong with that tactic!

Anyway, Venus is [1.04] for another appearance in the final, while Dementieva is currently [26.0].

Anyone that read the blog yesterday will know that I've got most of my spare cash tied up in a Rainer Schuettler victory and it's dead level at the moment at 5-5. Tense stuff, but surely the German won't let me down!!

As usual, send your thoughts in to sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk

I was talking about Venus's serve earlier and the TV commentator just said that her serve the other day against Martinez Sanchez was the fastest ever recorded by a female player at Wimbledon. For a bit of trivia; can you name the tallest female player ever to play at Wimbledon? Right, I'm off to grab a sandwich. Sean Calvert will be taking over.

Back in the real world Venus has just taken the first set 6-1. The older of the Williams sisters is [1.19] to win in straight sets from here. It's 4-4 in the Schuttler match.

I've always wondered how the Venus would get on if she played against male players. I reckon she's the only female player who could conceivably compete on level terms in terms of power. I watched her play live on Saturday on Court One before the Gasquet v Simon match and quite a few of her first serves were quicker than Simon's. I reckon she could possibly beat a player ranked about 150 on the men's ranking, but noone ranked lower than that. I'm going to ask Barry Millns for his opinion later on when I speak to him on radio. What do you reckon? E-mail me at sw19betfairblogger@hotmail.co.uk.

Demi finally gets a game on the board. Good for her! Back on court one the bandana-wearing Clement is 4-3 up in the fourth and leads two sets to one against Schuettler. It's evens the pair at the moment.

Venus is playing out of her skin here and you wonder what possible weapons Demi has in her armoury to turn things around. Remember that you can bet on game-by-game on Betfair. It's [4.8] on Dementieva to break Venus in game 6. The way Venus is serving that looks a bit short. Venus is [1.26] to hold serve. Again one that I'm sure the short-priced backers would consider value.

Speaking of which, Demi may need a stiff drink after the match if things carry on like this. She's 3-0 down and its Venus on serve. Short-priced backers may be tempted to think they're buying money by backing Venus at [1.08]; I wouldn't disagree.

On Tuesday I was on radio talking to tennis commentator Barry Millns about the price on a Venus/Serena final which at the time was [2.7]. We both thought it looked big but neither of us got on. It's now just [1.3]. Shame, because I'm booking my holidays soon and could do with some extra marguerita money. That's the cocktail, not some spanish hussy.

Awful mistake from Venus with a wild forehand that went out at 15-40 when she had the whole court to aim for; that's followed by an ace from big-serving Venus and a poor forehand by Dementieva. Deuce. Some top-notch shots by Demi - a superb cross-court backhand winner but that was followed by a poor effort that only reached half way up the net. Venus holds with a couple of big serve and Demi under the cosh already.

And even more so now that she's been broken in the first game! Dementiev ajust isnt serving well enough for a returner of Venus's calibre. Venus into [1.12].

Good afternoon all and welcome to day ten of Wimbledon. First up is Venus against Elena Dementieva. Head-to-head record reads 5-2 in favour of Venus and she's never been beaten in a Wimbledon semi so I guess the beautiful Russian has it all to do.

Tags: Dementieva, Wimbledon bets, Wimbledon betting