Serena Williams will play her sister Venus in this year's Wimbledon final.

Zheng Jie did enough to underline her status as the surprise package of this Wimbledon, despite a 6-2, 7-6 semi-final defeat by Serena Williams Thursday which ended the longest run by any Chinese singles player in Wimbledon history.

Zheng Jie of China reaches for the ball during her semi-finals match against Serena Williams of the US at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London July 3, 2008. [Agencies] Click for More Photos

With many millions watching at home and the Beijing Olympic Games little more than a month away it was a portentous moment when, against all odds, Zheng earned a set point against Williams' serve at 6-5 in the second set.

"I really didn't want a final set," said Williams, the former champion, who had begun to appear anxious as her opponent fought back. Had a decider happened, the support, already at partisan levels for Zheng, might have roared the match into even more unexpected territory.

One shot changed everything - Zheng's backhand return against a second serve, which looked as though it was about to hurtle down the line into an unreturnable area. Instead the ball just clipped the net tape, which is six inches higher there than at the centre, where the majority of her most penetrating backhand drives had passed. Had Zheng chosen to hit cross court, one had to wonder, how much greater would have been her chances of making the winner?

No one can know, but what is certain was the effect upon Williams's emotions of this escape and of her relief in victory a few moments later amidst a triumphant flurry of aces. "She was unbelievable," Williams said. "She had nothing to lose and played like it."

Serena Williams of the US celebrates defeating Zheng Jie of China during their semi-finals match at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London July 3, 2008. [Agencies] Click for More Photos

The result made sure that a Williams will win Wimbledon for a seventh time and for a while this outcome seemed likely to happen more rapidly. The American set out to be dismissive and intimidating, something in which she was assisted by the all-too-visible difference in height and weight. Though Zheng was nimble, superbly quick and preparing early for everything, sometimes there was nothing for which to prepare because her ferocious adversary had already struck the ball beyond her reach.

Williams was able to bully her opponent so relentlessly for the first six games that the match was at risk of deteriorating into a minor embarrassment. Things started to change when Zheng, at love-40 in the seventh game, began to hit her drives cleaner and harder, finding that greater risk-taking summoned better rhythm. In particular she began to unleash a flat backhand sharp-angled drive, often hit with one knee almost on the floor and with such exquisite timing that it caused the crowd to rise in full-throated support.

It was too late to save the first set, but by the second Zheng was able to take and keep the initiative. By now the mood was utterly different. There was also one moment, surely destined for A Question of Sport's What Happened Next? round, when Williams was involved in quite a heavy collision with a ball boy who was hurrying across the court. She was able to prevent that from turning into a bad omen, though, and was also careful to quash any gossip about whether the sisters might collude in the outcome of the final.

"We are going to stop talking to each other now until the final," she said. As they are sharing the same house and breakfast table, this did seem a little unlikely.

Zheng goes away with praise from government officials and £187,500 to offer to the earthquake appeal in Sichuan, where she went to school. How much of it goes there and how much to the tennis authorities remains for the moment a mystery.

Courtesy of The Guardian