The ladies’ singles title at Wimbledon will remain part of the Williams family fiefdom for the eighth year out of 10 this millennium: the champion Venus will play her sister Serena in Saturday’s final. And the world groans.

But a potential usurper came within a hair’s breadth of storming the citadel. Elena Dementieva of Russia came agonisingly close to beating Serena in a stunning semi-final that probably provided more good tennis than the rest of the women’s competition put together.