Serena Williams beat Zheng Jie in straight sets and will face sister Venus in Saturday's final.
Semi-final a step too far for wildcard Zheng
Serena Williams is through to a third Wimbledon final against sister Venus after beating China's Zheng Jie 6-2 7-6 (7/5).
Zheng has enjoyed a dramatic run to the semi-finals at the All England Club, including a shock victory over world number one Ana Ivanovic.
But the wildcard entrant finally met her match on Centre Court as Williams dominated the opening set and then took the second after a tense tie-break.
The two-time champion broke in the first game of the first set and again for a 4-1 lead, which she consolidated with a comfortable service game.
Although she missed three set points against her opponent's serve in the seventh game, she returned after a 45-minute rain delay to take the set with a love service game.
Improvement
Zheng performed better at the start of the second set and it was no surprise when she secured her first break of serve to open a 4-2 lead.
However, her nerves returned in her next service game as Williams raced into a 0-40 lead before taking the second of her three break points.
Unseeded Zheng battled to hold serve before forcing a set point as Williams served at 5-6 only to miss her golden chance with a forehand error.
Williams blasted into a 5-2 lead in the breaker, but was pegged back as Zheng won three successive points to level at 5-5.
A big serve, which Zheng unsuccessfully challenged, edged Williams ahead and the match ended in anti-climax when the Chinese player double-faulted at 5-6.
Williams paid tribute to her opponent and admitted: "She definitely pushed me and she played a great game.
"I'm happy to be back in a Grand Slam final. I didn't want to go to three sets. I could have done that, but I didn't want to. I wanted to close it out with some big serves."
On the prospect of another final against her sister Venus, she added: "She's a tough opponent. I think she'll be the toughest opponent I've played but I'm happy to have come this far and I'm excited."
