The Williams sisters rumble on towards that family final, with only Elena Dementieva now standing in Serena's way after a resounding victory over young Victoria Azarenka on Centre Court.
Williams won 6-2, 6-3 in 73 minutes, and will feel confident about her prospects in the semi-final. The Russian has a long history of failure in the final stages of grand slam tournaments, so the omens for Serena look good.
Azarenka, world ranked No 8, has beaten Williams once this year, in the final in Miami, but here she discovered that Serena, like her sister, is a totally different proposition on the family turf in SW19.
"She didn't give me many opportunities, you know," the shell-shocked Azarenka remarked after the match. "She was striking the ball so hard and so good. She really showed the unbeatable Serena today, I guess."
This was high-speed, high energy tennis from two players whose games are characterised by total physical commitment. The standard game was an exchange of powerful blows to the farthest corners of the court, and with Williams bellowing and Azarenka whooping it sounded as fierce as it looked.
On several occasions over-commitment brought crashing falls: Azarenka ending up sitting cross-legged facing away from the court as if thinking "I am NOT playing this game any more", and Williams taking a headlong tumble that looked likely to make the whole court shake.
It is amazing that this extraordinary athlete has survived uninjured for long enough to notch so many tournament victories, for when things go wrong for her on court there is a great deal of her to hit the ground.
The younger Williams does not get sufficient credit for the work she must put in to stay in shape. Many of her opponents are, by definition, natural athletes, while Williams whole career represents a triumph of will over physical reality.
She ought not to be quick, but she can be: when Azarenka tried a drop shot in the first set, it seemed that Williams did not have a chance of getting to it. But she exploded off the baseline and got to the ball just as it dropped, to fashion a winner. Luckily she also has good brakes, or the net would have been history.
Azarenka, a 19 year-old from Belarus, broke into the top 10 earlier this year and is well on her way to becoming top-four material. She gives the ball an almighty clump on both flanks, serves well and is aggressive, not least with herself. A relatively easy improvement to her game could be made if she adopted a method of hurling her racket to the ground in such a manner that it does not rebound and hit her in the face.
She showed signs of defiance on Tuesday, breaking Williams in the second set, but that was only delaying the inevitable.
"She's a real complete player, I would say," Azarenka commented. "She has every shot. She's very strong mentally. She fights until the last moment. I think she just has the whole package, and that makes her a great champion." Can anyone except Venus stop her?
Serena, though, is not thinking about the final. She's strict about that kind of thing. "Right now I'm just thinking about winning my next round, which is another tough match," she said. "When I go into a match, I play the winner of this and this, and then it's the final. So hopefully I'll play the winner of Venus' match against Dinara."
Hopefully, too we will get two entertaining semi-finals. Everyone except the Williams sisters is thinking about a Williams v Williams final. But the two Russians blocking their path are unlikely to move politely out of the way.
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