Sky Sports.com - Wimbledon 2008

Serena Williams insists the double motivation of sibling rivalry and a desire to make history will propel her through Saturday's Wimbledon singles final against her older sister Venus.

Williams kept her side of the bargain and confirmed another final Saturday family affair by muscling her way past brave Chinese wild card Zheng Jie 6-2 7-6 (7/5) on Centre Court on Thursday.

And Williams, who has won her two previous All England Club final meetings against her sister, said there would be no let-up in her powerful game as she goes in search of a third Wimbledon crown.

Clear focus

Williams said: "It's got easier for me personally because I just realise that I want to win this Wimbledon. This is a grand slam, this is history, and we're both trying to make our mark.

"It's easy, especially with sibling rivalry. I personally want everything that Venus has. If she won the trophy I would desperately want it. We leave everything on the court because this is the final of Wimbledon."

Williams, who has been in stellar form throughout the Championships, was made to work surprisingly hard during a match extended by two rain delays, and was forced to save a set point on her serve at 6-5 in the second set.

Zheng, who had confounded expectations to reach the last four, had begun to relish the pair's heavy baseline rallies but failed agonisingly to convert her big chance, whistling a service return into the top of the net.

Pushed

Williams, who secured victory on a Zheng double fault, said: "She definitely pushed me and she played a great game. But I was especially excited today because I feel everything is coming together now.

We've both been working extremely hard and it's all coming together. We're both so elated to be here and we're still in the doubles so we'll be be fighting to win our semi-final in the doubles first."

As per the majority of this tournament, Williams did not look in the mood to be detained for long by the world number 33, moving to the brink of taking the first set in 27 minutes before the first brief rain delay.

But the second set was a different story, as Zheng began with a competent service game and her athletic approach began to delight the Centre Court crowd who were desperate to see some semblance of a contest.

Zheng responded, a fine smash securing her first break point on the Williams serve at 3-2, and a searing backhand return giving her the break her increasingly adventurous play richly deserved.

The break only served to wake up Williams, who immediately responded by breaking Zheng back to 15, and she was forced to fight to hold on as the Chinese player plainly began to enjoy her big occasion on Centre Court.

Zheng said: "Overall I'm quite satisfied with my performance but her serve was too big, especially on the grass court. I will use my experience from Wimbledon to have a better expectation for the Olympics."