Comeback queen Venus sparkles

VENUS WILLIAMS is back.

On a day of persistent showers the elder half of the sister act who transformed women’s tennis rediscovered a little sunshine after the darkest two years of her life when she powered into the Wimbledon final.

Serving big, hitting big, shrieking big, she defeated reigning champion Maria Sharapova 7-6 6-1 in a match of stunning quality.

Not only was it family revenge for the defeat of sister Serena by a 17-year-old Sharapova in last year’s final, it was the end of a nightmare.

A nightmare which had seen Williams suffer a stomach injury in her last Grand Slam final at Wimbledon two years ago, sidelining her for six months.

A nightmare which had seen her former world number one ranking plummet and which had seen her beat just one top five player in the last two years.

A nightmare which had also seen one of her sisters murdered.

No wonder at the point of victory, when Sharapova slashed a backhand wide, the Williams joy washed around Centre Court.

She raised both arms to the brooding skies, skipped a few girlish steps and then jumped repeatedly in the air. In the players’ box dad Richard snapped away with his camera, capturing the moment when his daughter reached her fifth Wimbledon final.

Williaams revealed she had been inspired by a message from sister Serena, who went out in the third round.

“Serena sent me an e-mail telling me what to do and to stay in there and play my game and that I was the best,” said Williams. “I guess I took that to heart. I have a good record here. Last year I had an unfortunate match. This year it’s kind of fallen into step.”

It was a simple description which went nowhere near to doing justice to the feat of the number 14 seed, who came into this tournament unheralded and has reached the final without losing a single set.

She had saved her best for Sharapova in a match switched from Court One after a four-and-a-half hour rain delay. It gave Williams the chance to redeem herself on the court she loves most and she did so quite brilliantly.

The first set was a wonderful example of the modern power of women’s tennis, two big-hitters swinging from the hips without the slightest inhibition.

Sharapova was first to blink in the sixth game, one wondrous 11-stroke rally and two sizzling Williams backhands giving the American the break.

It might have been enough against many opponents, but Sharapova is the grittiest, most determined of opponents and she demonstrated just that in the ninth game by saving two set points and then producing the power and precision to break back.

If the tennis was of the highest quality then the ‘shriekometer’ was also registering record decibel levels as both women strained every sinew into the inevitable tie-break.

While Williams stepped up a level, however, the Sharapova game began to leak some errors and Williams took the breaker 7-2.

It was the first set the Russian had dropped this tournament and it appeared to have shaken the Sharapova psyche when she lost her first service game of the second set.

Williams was crashing down serves regularly at 117mph and while Sharapova forced two break points in the second game the Williams backhand was up to the task.

The scoreboard might suggest the second set was a walkover but it was anything but and even in the sixth game Sharapova might have fought her way back into the match if she had not misguidedly chosen perhaps the worst drop shot of her career.

The game lasted nine minutes, Sharapova squandered two break points and when Williams finally collected it to take a 5-1 lead the victory looked sure. Except that the rain began to fall and we wondered whether Sharapova might just have an ally in the sky.

It wasn’t to be, too many wild backhands allowing Williams two match points and it was all over when another Russian backhand went wide.

Sharapova appeared close to tears as she reflected on the loss of the title she had claimed against Venus’ sister Serena last year.

Sharapova said: “I’m obviously very said - this tournament means a lot to me more than any other tournament. But there’s many years to come and it’s just one of those things where you want to win but you can’t.”

Rain held up Lindsay Davenport’s charge into tomorrow’s final. The world number one, whose semi-final with Amelie Mauresmo was delayed by more than four hours, was once more thwarted by the weather while on the brink of a remarkable victory.

The 29-year-old American, who had fought back from a set and 2-0 down to lead 6-7 7-6 5-3, was just four points away from an eighth-successive win over her French opponent when rain drove the players from Court One.