Venus Williams made it an American double over Belgium at Wimbledon on Thursday, fighting back to beat second seed Kim Clijsters 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 and book a second successive meeting with sister Serena in the final.
Venus, winner here in 2000 and 2001, needed lengthy treatment on an abdominal injury at 1-2 in the first set, but the Belgian showed no mercy, stretching her opponent all around the court to take the opener in 43 minutes.
After a lengthy rain delay, Venus slipped behind early in the second set, but looked more like her old aggressive self to break the Clijsters serve three times in a row and level the match.
Both players upped their level at the start of the third set but the momentum was firmly with fourth seed Venus. The writing was on the wall for Clijsters when she netted a mid-court forehand at 1-1 to go behind for the first time in the match.
Showing no sign of the injury that affected her so badly early on, Venus began striking the ball with real venom and steamrollered to victory in one hour 40 minutes, the final set taking just 24 minutes.
Defending champion Serena had earlier disposed of Justine Henin-Hardenne in two sets.
