No stopping "invincible" Venus

By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON (Reuters) - Like most rulers Venus Williams is a control freak. The American demonstrated just how obsessive she is about winning when she pulverized Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 6-2 to thunder into the Wimbledon semi-finals on Tuesday.

The third seed, who describes herself as "controlling," has reigned Wimbledon with an iron fist over the past three years and so complete is her hold over the grasscourt grand slam that she has now won 33 consecutive sets dating back to the third round of the 2007 championships.

"Do I feel invincible? I''d like to say yes," Williams, who is chasing a sixth title at the All England Club, told reporters.

Dinara Safina will be hoping to test that claim but despite being the world number one, the Russian is expected to be a mere stepping stone toward another final for the elder of the Williams sisters.

Since the turn of the millennium, Williams has contested seven finals in south west London and very few players have even come close to rattling the 29-year-old on grass.

The list of rivals who have beaten Williams here since 2000 is a short one -- sister Serena, Croatian Karolina Sprem and Jelena Jankovic sharing the honors.

Not even in her dreams did Polish 11th seed Radwanska come close to joining that group.

"First set I couldn''t do anything... it was fast," shrugged Radwanska, who came into her post-match news conference wearing a maroon shirt plastered with the message ''Keep your eyes where I can see them''.

Unfortunately for the Pole, she barely managed to keep her eyes on the ball.

The first set disappeared in a blur in 27 minutes.

Radwanska would not have looked out of place if she had chosen to turn up on a sun-bathed Court One wearing some heavy body armor as she repeatedly had to watch missiles clocked up to 196kph hurtling her way.

THUNDERBOLT ACES

So fierce was the Venus delivery that she dropped only two points on serve, one of them due to a netcord, in the first set.

With little going her way, at one stage Radwanska looked longingly at a plane flying overhead -- perhaps hoping it could winch her off court so that she escape an arena which had turned into her own personal torture chamber.

After saving a set point in the sixth game, Radwanska was greeted by a spontaneous burst of applause when she finally registered on the scoreboard to trail 5-1.  Continued...