Jul 1, 2008, 19:48 GMT
London - A tight-lipped Venus Williams denied she'd done herself any damage on Tuesday as she limped off court in victory as she and her sister Serena moved closer to a possible final at the Wimbledon Championships.
'I'm walking around on two legs, doing good, so I'm not really concerned right now,' said the defending champion after stopping Tamarine Tanasugarn, the first player from Thailand to get this far at the event, 6-4, 6-3.
But the week two Asian invasion stayed in the chase as Zheng Jie reached a surprise semi-final, beating Czech Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 5- 7, 6-1.
The number 133 wildcard who stunned top seed Ana Ivanovic in the third round and then defeated 15th seed Agnes Szavay before dismantling Vaidisova, has sliced nearly 70 spots from her ranking already and is nearing the Top 40.
'It's unbelievable to get to semi-finals,' said the 24-year-old who will return home when her Wimbledon dream is done to prepare for the August 8 start of the Beijing Olympics.
'This is the best two weeks I've had in my life. Nicole has a big serve and plays aggressive. I only had a few chances.'
The outsider stepped up her game in the final set, racing away and advancing on her third match point. 'I never thought I would be in the semi-finals,' said Jie.
Sixth seed Serena Williams defeated Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-0 to line up against Jie for the second time at Wimbledon after a 2004 first-round win.
Venus, who has favouring her left leg at the end of her victory, takes on Russian Elena Dementieva after the fifth seed twice failed to serve out a straight-sets win over Nadia Petrova, eventually going through to the final four 6-1, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3.
'I'm extremely happy to reach a first semi-final here,' said Dementieva, twice a Grand Slam finalist in 2004. 'It's a great feeling.'
The Russian, never known for nerves of steel, confessed that she did find it tough again in trying to close out the victory. 'I was up 5-2 in the second, it was tight and I wanted to finish in two sets.
'I don't know what happened. And in the third it was so difficult to play, it was hard to be aggressive. (With the sun) it doesn't feel like Wimbledon.
'There has not been much rain and it was very hot today, I feel exhausted.'
Williams and Dementieva have played only twice in the last three years, the American winning in 2007 in Warsaw on clay and the Russian claiming a 2005 Fed Cup match.
Men go into quarter-final action on Wednesday, with Roger Federer playing Mario Ancic, the last man to beat him on grass in 2002, and Rafael Nadal facing British tennis hero Andy Murray.
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