London: We have the climax to the women’s tournaments for which sentimentalists and family-boosters might have wished, as Serena Williams and her older sister Venus will contest their fourth Wimbledon final, after Venus followed up her sister’s epic battle with Elena Dementieva with a demolition of Dinara Safina which was, to put it politely, more straightforward.

While joy will be unconfined in the Williams camp, neutrals and those who have stumped up for Centre Court tickets on Saturday may be less delighted. While there is no substance to the suggestions made by Dementieva last year that there may be some collusion between the sisters regarding results in the final here, yet it has been hard to find any real dramatic edge in their previous contests for the Rosewater Dish.

There was certainly nothing dramatic about the second match on Centre Court on Thursday. Dinara Safina, the world No. 1 who has yet to win a Grand Slam title, demonstrated why with a performance that must surely be unsurpassed for feebleness by a player of her class in a match of this stature.

Williams won 6-1, 6-0, and it is surprising to note that the contest required 51 minutes when in truth it was over in the first 240 seconds, during which Safina surrendered the first two games with barely a murmur.

The world’s leading player was so lacking in belief, resolution and concentration that it was a miracle she had remembered to bring her rackets with her on to the court.

She need not have bothered, for if her implements made contact with the ball it was only to send it extravagantly long or wide, or limply into the net.

Dementieva may earlier have demonstrated her lamentable tendency to shy at the final fence in a vital race, but her compatriot was never in the race in the first place.

Fortunately for the Russian, the Centre Court fans had already enjoyed the error-strewn marathon of the first semi-final, so did not feel too badly short-changed by the travesty of a match which followed it.

Harsh though it may be to point it out, Safina is world No. 1 only because she has played more matches than the Williams sisters this year. On this evidence, she is not in the same league as either of them.