Williams annihiliates Safina to reach final

Venus Williams brought Dinara Safina’s Wimbledon campaign to an abrupt halt on Thursday, smashing the world number one 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes.

Safina’s defeat immediately sparked criticisms of women’s singles tennis, with many questioning whether Safina is deserving of heading the WTA rankings without having taken a grand slam title.

"I have reached the semi-finals at least at the last four Grand Slams," Safina said in defence of her performance. "Venus and Serena didn't make the semi-finals at the French Open. The ranking is all year, tournament by tournament.”

"I won in Rome and Madrid this year. I have been very consistent. The rankings are not just the result of the Grand Slam events."

Venus Williams put in a near flawless performance to eliminate Safina, hitting only 1 unforced error in comparison to 16 by the Russian, whilst also acing her opponent five times. Following the match, Williams came out in support of both Safina and the state of women’s tennis.

"I think women's tennis is fantastic,” Williams said. “I would never be down on it. I happen to have enormous respect for Dinara. I'm not the number one seed so I shouldn't be expected to win but I have more experience playing on grass courts so that helped me."