Dementieva waltzes past Schiavone

LONDON (Reuters) - Olympic champion Elena Dementieva reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the second straight year with a crushing 6-2 6-2 victory over unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old Schiavone had never passed the third round here in eight previous visits and rarely looked like threatening the crisp-hitting of the fourth-seeded Dementieva.

The Russian broke serve three times in the opening set and Schiavone''s resistance proved equally ineffective in the second, and Dementieva progressed when the Italian veteran slapped a backhand over the baseline after 66 minutes.

She will play second seed Serena Williams of the U.S. or Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, seeded eight, for a place in Saturday''s final.

(Editing by Miles Evans)