Wimbledon 2016: Venus and Serena Williams on course to meet in final after progressing into semis

Venus Williams has booked her place in her first Wimbledon semi-final in seven years after beating Yaroslava Shvedova and keep alive her dream of playing sister Serena in Saturday's final.

Williams, a five-time champion at SW19 with her last triumph coming back in 2008, saw off her spirited opponent – ranked 96<sup>th in the world – 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 to set up a final four showdown with fourth seed Angelique Kerber.

The 36-year-old becomes the oldest competitor to reach the semi-final since Martina Navratilova in 1994 after an impressive recovery in the first set against her Kazakh opponent. Venus fell 5-2 behind in the opener before responding in splendid fashion, sealing the set after a tie break, before dominating the second to seal victory.

Her semi-final opponent Kerber sealed a thrilling straight sets victory 7-5 7-6 (7-2) over Simona Halep on Centre Court to move into the semi-finals.

Defending champion Serena Williams will take on the unseeded Elena Vesnina in her semi-final match after easing past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-4.

The Williams sisters remain on course to meet in this year's final having been kept on either side of the draw. The two have met each other in four previous Wimbledon finals, with Serena leading 3-1 in that particular head-to-head. Serena will also keep her No1 ranking after her win –if she had lost her quarter she could have been overtaken by Kerber if the German won the title.

In the men's singles, Tomas Berdych booked his place in the last eight after seeing off Jiri Vesely in five sets. The 10<sup>th seed with meet Lucas Pouille in his quarter-final match.