The American, who had blown Maria Sharapova off court in her fourth round tie, was in equally imperious form as she beat the Russian fifth seed 6-3, 6-4 to advance to a semi-final meeting with Serbia's Ana Ivanovic.

In contrast, sixth seed Ivanovic, runner-up at last month's French Open, had to come from a set down and save three match points to squeeze past the Czech Republic's Nicole Vaidisova, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

With her younger sister Serena having been eliminated by Justine Henin in the quarter-finals, the 2000, 2001 and 2005 champion Venus is looking like the only player left in the draw with the game to stop world number one Henin from completing a full set of Grand Slam titles here.

And the depth of the American's confidence was underlined by her response to a question about who she regarded as the favourite among the women left in the draw.

"Now why would I say anyone else?" she asked. "C'mon, I think my self-esteem would be quite low if I would name another person."

Going into the match, Kuznetsova had won three of her five meetings with the American, including their most recent meeting, on clay in Warsaw earlier this year.

But you would not have guessed it from the way in which Williams claimed the opening set in just half an hour.

The Russian proved more resilient in the second, recovering from 0-40 down in the opening game of the set and then immediately matching the break Williams claimed to take a 3-2 lead.

But Williams was not to be denied. A break for 4-3 gave her the advantage once more and a string of unreturnable serves left Kuznetsova serving to stay in the match.

The Russian managed to cling on and she saved four match points before finally bowing to the inevitable by sending a forehand beyond the baseline.

Williams is only seeded 23rd this year because her world ranking has slipped in line with her part-time playing schedule. If she goes on to claim the title she will be the lowest-seeded player to have done it, beating her own record from 2005, when she won as 14th seed.

It would also represent a remarkable turnaround in her form over the course of the two weeks.

The 27-year-old looked far from convincing in her opening two matches here and came close to an early exit when Japan's Akiko Morigami served for the match at 5-3 in the third set of her third round match.

Shrugging off those frights, Williams said: "I'm really a big game player. I get up for these matches."

Ivanovic's victory was also testimony to her ability to raise her game when it really matters.

Out-muscled by her big-serving opponent in the opening set, she managed to maintain her focus to hold out to take the match into a third and then survive the three match points that Vaidisova earned on Ivanovic's serve at 5-3.

"She was playing unbelievable but I played very well at the end of the match," Ivanovic said. "I'm really excited now. It was my first match on Centre Court and to win like this is amazing."

Vaidisova, the 14th seed, had claimed an early edge when she broke Ivanovic in the opening game of the match, which allowed her to claim the first set.

Ivanovic appeared to be in deep trouble when she also dropped the opening game of the second set on her own service. But she responded immediately and claimed two more breaks to send the match into a deciding set.

Vaidisova once again looked the more likely winner when she claimed a break to go 4-2 up in the final set.

But the Czech girl was not able to take her opportunities at 5-3 and paid the price when she double-faulted to hand Ivanovic victory on her second match point after two hours of enthralling drama on Centre Court.