Venus too hot for Radwanska

Venus Williams takes off during her quarter-final match against Agnieszka Radwanska.

Another stroll in the Wimbledon sunshine carried Venus Williams past opposition that varied between the overawed and the inadequate and into the semi-finals of the 2009 Championships. The latest victim was Agnieszka Radwanska, the 20-year-old Pole seeded 11th, who managed to retrieve three games from the carnage as Venus won 6-1, 6-2 in 68 minutes. It is the eighth time the five-time winner has reached the last four, and on seven occasions she went though to the final. Once more, it was all so simple for Venus, who made light of the strapping she wears on her left knee by running down every short ball or dropshot that arrived on her side of the net. Like the previous four Williams opponents in this year's tournament, Radwanska was a set down almost before she had realised the match was under way. Perhaps she was baffled at the sudden Venus departure from No.1 Court after the warm-up and before the match began. But Venus came back primed and professional, dropping just two points in four service games. Radwanska was 5-0 down in 17 minutes before deciding to combat the bludgeoning power of Williams with some thumping efforts of her own. Rather balatedly the spectators were lifted from their torpor and treated to some strenuous rallies, though Radwanska was still a set behind 10 minutes later as Williams arrowed successive aces past the Pole. Radwanska's greater commitment and application managed to make more of a match of it briefly in the second set and she profited from a spell of loose Williams tennis in which the defending champion dropped serve to love on three errors. But Venus has never been slow to heed a wake-up call and from a deficit of 0-2 she swept imperiously through the next six games, capturing the Radswanska serve seemingly at will. If her radar had seemed a little wonky at the start of that second set, Venus had assembled her intimidating armoury well before the end and gave it an undemanding workout in the sunshine. The only time she appeared put out was when umpire Kader Nouni overruled what she clearly thought was a winner. Though Venus did not bother with a challenge, her judgment was shown by television to be correct. Court 1 - Ladies' Singles - Quarterfinals Venus Williams USA (3) 6 6 Agnieszka Radwanska POL (11) 1 2