Serena Williams beats Elena Dementieva in epic

Serena Williams played one of the most spectacular matches of her career on Thursday to reach the 2009 Wimbledon singles final.

Last year’s runner-up advanced to her second consecutive Championships after outlasting Elena Dementieva in an epic encounter on Centre Court.

Both Williams and Dementieva brought their finest tennis to the court today, and after nearly three hours of play, Serena Williams emerged as the winner with a 6-7(4), 7-5, 8-6 victory.

Dementieva, one of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s most notorious poor servers, gave Serena one of her toughest matches of the year as she dominated on serve.

Late in the second set it appeared as though Dementieva would break at 5-4, but Williams recovered to force a third and deciding set. Dementieva once again had an opening in the tenth game, but Williams managed to save a match point at 5-4 with a gutsy volley at the net.

Serena Williams will await the winner of today’s second semifinal between Dinara Safina and Venus Williams.