Dinara, Serena, Venus, Elena Complete Wimbledon Final Four

Venus and Serena Williams moved one step closer to a blockbuster final showdown on Tuesday at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Both Williams sisters advanced to Thursday’s semifinals, along with Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva.

For the first time since 2006, the seedings have held with all top four seeds reaching the semifinals.

Standing in the way of a second consecutive All-Williams Wimbledon final is the Russian pair, who will each face a sister on Thursday.

The top seed and world number one Dinara Safina reached the final four after an erratic win over German Sabine Lisicki 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-1.

“It was a little bit disappointing because yesterday was a good match,” Safina said about her performance on Tuesday. “Today again I had a very slow start, like I’m playing half of my tennis until I’m not down, and then I start to play better.”

Second seed Serena Williams had a much easier time in her quarterfinal match on Centre Court. The ten-time Grand Slam champion played near perfect tennis to dispatch Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-3.

Her older sister Venus also needed just two sets to book a berth in the semifinals. Venus, the defending champion at Wimbledon, ousted Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 6-2.

“That first set for me was really almost perfect,” said the third seed later when discussing her match. “The second set I think I got a little bit impatient the first couple of games, but I was able to mentally bring it back and realized that maybe I did have to hit a few more balls, because everyone lifts their game, especially after a first set that was one-sided.”

Fourth seeded Elena Dementieva advanced after beating Francesca Schiavone in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.

Dinara Safina will take on Venus Williams in the semifinals, while her countrywoman Elena Dementieva is set to play Serena Williams for a spot in Saturday’s championship match.