Wimbledon Championships
Venue: All England Club, London Date: 21 June - 4 July
Coverage: Live on BBC One and Two, HD, Red Button, BBC Sport website (UK only), Radio 5 live, 5 live sports extra; live text commentary online and on mobile phones.
Full details of BBC coverage
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By Caroline Cheese
BBC Sport at Wimbledon |
 Serena will play her seventh Wimbledon semi-final on Thursday
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Serena Williams salvaged family pride at Wimbledon as she reached the semi-finals with a 7-5 6-3 win over Li Na.
The top seed saw her sister Venus crash out to Tsvetana Pironkova before she came out to face ninth seed Li.
Serena did not have things all her own way either, but Li played a poor service game to drop the first set.
The world number one was broken for the first time at 5-2 in the second set but broke again to seal a semi-final against unseeded Czech Petra Kvitova.
Kvitova, who had never won a match at Wimbledon before this year, won a remarkable tussle on Court One against Estonian qualifier Kaia Kanepi.
The world number 62 saved five match points and came from 5-2 down in the deciding set to win 4-6 7-6 (10-8) 8-6 in two hours and 38 minutes.
But Serena is now the overwhelming favourite to take her fourth Wimbledon title, particularly after the demise of five-time champion Venus, who lost to Pironkova only shortly before her younger sister walked out on Centre Court for her quarter-final match.
Serena admits she has to "hang in" for the win
"We're best friends, we live together, we do everything together," Serena told BBC Sport. "I saw her after the match and she gave me some good advice. It was a tough match for her."
It was perhaps not surprising that Serena was in rather subdued mood against Li.
The first set was closely fought until Li double-faulted twice in a gift of a game at 5-5, allowing Serena to serve it out after 45 minutes.
The American pumped her fist in a rare show of emotion as she broke for a second time at 2-2 in the second set, and when Li double-faulted again to give Serena a 5-2 lead, the Chinese player's shoulders slumped.
The 28-year-old managed to recover one of the breaks, Serena paying the price for failing to put away a volley as Li rifled a pass into the open court, but she then immediately dropped serve again as Serena triumphed in one hour and 20 minutes.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion is through to her seventh Wimbledon semi-final.
"It isn't as a good as it was the first time, but it never gets old," said the American.
Serena is certain to face a player making their debut at that stage of a major tournament, and she is by far the most experienced of the remaining players in the draw.
Only Vera Zvonareva, who faces Pironkova in the other semi-final, has ever beaten Serena and that was four years ago.
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