Richard Williams will be on his way back to the United States when his daughters meet for the fourth time in the singles final.

Williams, who taught his daughters to play tennis and remains their coach, has never watched them play in a final against each other and booked his flight home on Thursday after Venus secured victory over Dinara Safina in the second semi-final.

“My dad usually leaves,” said Serena, who had earlier beaten Elena Dementieva in three sets. “Hopefully he’ll stay for our match tomorrow. That would be nice.

“I’d love him to stay - I’m going to ask him - but he usually leaves because his work is done really.”

Williams senior agreed to postpone his departure until after his daughters play their doubles semi-final against top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber, which is the first match on Court One on Friday, but says he will never break his vow to watch them play each other.

“I could never do that,” he told Press Association Sport. “I would never watch them, I’d have a heart attack.

“It’s just too difficult. I have never even watched them on TV. Once when they played my neighbour recorded it but I said, ‘No, I can’t watch that’.

“As soon as Venus got up 5-0, I came down to talk to the girl who works for Serena and book my flight then.

“Serena said, ‘You’re staying for the doubles’, so I’m staying for the doubles, but after that I have to go home.”

Serena, the champion in 2002 and 2003, insists she will be the underdog against the defending champion after struggling to overcome Dementieva.

“I feel I’m going into this final with nothing to lose,” she said. “She’s playing the best tennis at this tournament.

“I’ll just keep positive and go with it. I think that, if I can do that, then it will be good.”

The sisters, who are the defending doubles champions, are level at 10-10 in previous singles meetings, with Venus favourite to edge ahead after dropping just 20 games in her six matches so far.

“I’m still enjoying my semi-final win, so I have to get my mind shifted to the final,” said Venus.

“But just playing Serena Williams, I have the immense respect. Even if she’s not playing her best, it’s just that fight she has that you’re facing.

“There’s so much to face when you play her. It’s definitely a lot to get your mind around.

“What I can tell you is the respect that we have for each other on and off the court is the same as it was 10 years ago.”

Andy Murray rode the dramatic wave of emotion generated under Wimbledon’s new roof to make instant history.

His latest victory also kept alive his dreams of recording even more next Sunday.

In the latest Wimbledon finish in Wimbledon history, 10.38pm, and with the famous hill still packed but in total darkness, the Scot needed the assistance of a partisan crowd and some raucous support from his mum Judy to defeat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 2-6 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-3.

It was the spectacular dogfight Wimbledon 2009 had been yearning for, three hours and 57 minutes of stomach-churning tension which was validation of the All England Club’s decision to spend £100m or so on their new roof.

At the end Murray fell to his knees and admitted: “It’s great to have come through. I believe I can win Wimbledon, that has not changed. I have to play great tennis to do it and I had to play great tennis to come back tonight.”

He then went on to criticise Wimbledon’s decision to play the match under the roof, which had been put to its first competitive use when showers halted the previous match between Dinara Safin and Amelie Mauresmo.

When Murray took to the court with Wawrinka the weather was dry and Murray said: “It’s tough when you’re warming up, getting ready for the match outside and it’s dry and then get told you’re playing under the roof.

“The decision should be made before that match (Safina’s) is finished so they can let the players know in a decent amount of time what conditions they are going to be playing under

“In very few sports would coaches and teams be particularly happy if they don’t know exactly what time they’re going to kick off or what the conditions are going to be like when they go out there.

“When you haven’t experienced something before it is tough to know how it’s going to play. There is quite a big difference.”

Murray blamed the humid conditions for the way he struggled on his serve, saying: “We were sweating so much. Both of us were trying to get white towels because your hands were drenched. When I finished it was like I had been in a bath. It slowed things down a lot and I struggled to serve because it wasn’t coming off the strings that quickly.

“I like playing indoors but when you have not practised or ever played a match under a roof on grass you don’t know what to expect. For two and an half sets I played great tennis, it just took me a while to get used to it.”

At times it looked as if the roof was about to fall in on Murray’s quest to become the first Briton to lift the men’s singles in 73 years as he ran into a man in Wawrinka playing the tennis of his life.

How did Murray survive?

Sheer guts and determination. Plus a burning desire not to let down a Centre Court crowd who willed him across the finish line in the way they used to carry Tim Henman in his hours of need in SW19.

Murray now faces wild card Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarter finals and his fans can only hope he has not been too drained physically and mentally by such a momentous encounter.

It was all the more creditable because Murray could not have started more poorly, losing the opening game on serve and the opening set to a Wawrinka who belied his world ranking of 18.

Wawrinka’s backhand winners are as stunning as any shot in the game, including any of his compatriot Roger Federer, with whom he won the doubles gold medal in the Beijing Olympics.

And he pulverised Murray in that first set when the Scot appeared to have been unnerved by the indoor conditions as well as the brilliance of a man who has become one of his great pals as well as a regular practice partner.

There were several pivotal moments.

First, in the second set when Murray produced a brilliant running forehand to salvage a game he might well have lost, after which Murray pumped his fists, the crowd at last got to the heart of the action and mum Judy all but vaulted the barrier in front of Centre Court.

Second, in the sixth game of the third set when Murray saved three break points with crashing winners off both backhand and forehand to gain a crucial momentum swing.

The fourth set was a tense struggle, full of heavy hitting, but it was Wawrinka who dug in to gain the only break in the 11th game.

And so it went to a fifth in which Murray raced to a 3-0 lead, coming back from 40-love down to break the Wawrinka serve.

Cue sigh of relief. Too soon. Again Wawrinka squared things up and by then they were more like heavyweight boxers out on their feet than tennis players

Weary as he was, however, Murray conjured up one last effort to break the Wawrinka serve once more in the eighth game to clinch a famous victory.

Murray said: “At the end it was probably the noisiest crowd I’ve played in front of. It definitely sounds and feels much louder with the roof. The support is great.”

It was the understatement of the night.

An online bookmaker has confirmed it has alerted tennis authorities about unusual patterns of betting on a match at Wimbledon.

Betfair said the flood of wagers on Austrian number 26 seed Jurgen Melzer during his straight-sets first-round victory over American Wayne Odesnik was “very visible”.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing, but the company has informed the Tennis Integrity Unit, which is expected to look into the game to determine whether the patterns were sinister or simply reflected fans’ judgment that the little-fancied Odesnik, who was carrying an injury, was likely to lose heavily.

Betfair’s Mark Davies told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have a memorandum of understanding with the Tennis Integrity Unit which allows them to see betting patterns of all the betting which takes place on our site and we alerted them to this.

“It was extremely visible to all our customers, the price moving in as quickly as it did. There was a lot of chat about it on our forums.

“So we would have liaised with the Tennis Integrity Unit and then they can make a judgment whether there is something more sinister in this or whether it is just a question of people being aware of a player who was already significantly under-rated carrying an injury that meant that he was likely to lose.”

Graham Sharpe, media relations director of William Hill, believes the heavy gamble on Melzer may have simply occurred because the public saw the odds on him winning in straight sets to be too generous.

Sharpe said: “We haven’t made any complaint and we saw nothing untoward at all in the betting patterns.

“From our point of view we suspect people thought the game had been wrongly priced.

“The result was fully entitled to end up the way it did do.”

Roger Federer has backed Andy Murray to be a “great grass champion” in future as the pair gear up for Wimbledon.

With defending champion Rafael Nadal forced to pull out of the championships through injury, Federer and Murray are now seeded to meet each other in the final at the All England Club on July 5.

And five-time Wimbledon champion Federer is wary of the threat posed by the 22-year-old Scot.

The Swiss told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme: “He has the double-handed back-hand, very unusual, he’s a great double-hander, he moves very well for how tall he is… He’ll be a great grass champion for the future.

“He’s definitely got a good chance (at Wimbledon).”

Murray is one of the few players with a winning record against Federer, leading their head-to-head clashes 6-2, including victory in their last four meetings.

Federer has won when it really matters, but reckons Murray has learned to handle dealing with pressure.

“When it came down to the crunch we’ve played two times in finals he played very well but I was able to beat him, prior to finals he’s beaten me,” said the 27-year-old.

“I don’t want to make excuses but he played me at a time when I had back problems (which) made it hard for me to call on my best performance level.

“He played me the right way and was very successful. He’s a great tactician, I like to watch him play - he’s a very tough challenge.

“I thought he handled the pressure very well last year. He also handled it in Queen’s.”

Murray comes into Wimbledon on the back of his first tournament victory on grass in the AEGON Championships at Queen’s Club, and reached the quarter-finals here last year before losing to Nadal.

Federer added: “I know Queen’s is not Wimbledon but I think he takes these things pretty relaxed.

“I think he’s become such a good player now it’s not going to affect him much and if it does it affects him in a good way.”

Andy Murray admitted he was left helpless by Fernando Gonzalez’s booming forehand during his loss to the Chilean.

Murray was bidding to become only the second British man in the Open era, after Tim Henman, to reach the last four at Roland Garros but he ran out of steam, 12th seed Gonzalez powering his way to a 6-3 3-6 6-0 6-4 win today.

The naturally-attacking Gonzalez can blow hot and cold but today was one of his better days. He hit 45 winners to steamroller the third seed on a sun-kissed Philippe Chatrier court.

Murray held his hands up, acknowledging the man who he claims has the biggest forehand in tennis deserved the victory.

“No-one’s hit the ball that big. If that happens, sometimes you’ve got to say, ‘too good’,” the Scot said.

“If you look at some of the shots he’s hit, he’s hitting forehands from a metre wide of the tramlines on some points - and hitting winners off them.

“Even if you try to hit a ball to his backhand, he runs around and spanks a winner. You can’t do a whole lot about that.”

Gonzalez, a boys’ singles winner here in 1998, admitted everything went right today.

“I was playing at a really high level. I took every chance that he gave me,” the 28-year-old said.

“I managed to win the third set very easily and that gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the match.

“On the attack, I always try to hit and have no fear. I just go for it. I have great pleasure hitting the ball hard.

“Some days I can miss but I know that if I have to win a big match, I have to perform on that (forehand) side.”

If Gonzalez - a winner of eight clay-court tournaments so far in his career - continues to find his range with his forehand, he will be difficult to beat.

But then so will 23rd seed Robin Soderling, the Chilean’s opponent in the semi-finals.

The Swede, who dumped out top seed and reigning champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, continued his amazing Roland Garros journey by sweeping aside previously in-form 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko.

Soderling won 6-1 6-3 6-1 in an hour and 41 minutes on Suzanne Lenglen court.

“I have to say it was a little tougher than the score suggests,” said the 24-year-old, who has also beaten 14th seed David Ferrer this tournament.

“I always knew I could play really, really good tennis when I’m on top of my game. I just needed to tell myself not to lose concentration.”

Soderling also revealed he had received a congratulatory text off compatriot Bjorn Borg after his win over Nadal, who last year equalled the legendary Swede’s record of four straight Roland Garros titles.

“He said, ‘Congratulations, and thank you for not letting Nadal break my record’. I think he will be down here tomorrow,” Soderling added.

“It was very big for me to receive a text from him. The funny thing is, I also got a lot of texts from people I don’t even know!”

It was a disappointing way for Davydenko to celebrate his 28th birthday.

The Russian, formidable against eighth seed Fernando Verdasco in round four, was understandably unhappy to have picked up only five games in three sets against an opponent he would have been expected to overcome at the start of the tournament.

“I didn’t have my best game and that’s surprising,” he said.

“Maybe his tennis is too fast for me. He had very good control from the baseline.”

Davydenko denied he had got ahead of himself and contemplated a place in the final.

“I was not thinking about the semi-final or final,” he said. “Okay, it was not Nadal or (Novak) Djokovic I was playing, but Soderling played well.”

Rafael Nadal has admitted that his shock French Open exit was down more to his poor performance than Soderling’s challenge.

Rafael Nadal’s four-year reign as king of clay at the French Open ended today after he was sensationally dumped out by unheralded Swede Robin Soderling in the fourth round.

The Spaniard suffered his first-ever defeat at Roland Garros as he lost 6-2 6-7 (2/7) 6-4 7-6 (7/2) to the inspired world number 25 in what is being labelled arguably the biggest upset in tennis history.

With Novak Djokovic having also been eliminated, the door is now ajar for the likes of second seed Roger Federer and third seed Andy Murray, the British number one who beat Marin Cilic today.

“I made it very easy for him - I didn’t attack him, I played very short,” said the Mallorcan, whose 31 consecutive wins here is a French Open record.

“It was more my fault than him playing well. I didn’t play my best tennis and for that reason I lost. It wasn’t my day.”

Nadal may have dropped well below his usual level but Soderling, who was featuring in his first last-16 match at a grand slam, played out of his skin.

Most people were expecting his level to dip after standing shoulder to shoulder with the top seed in the first couple of sets but he continued to pound away at his opponent with his mighty groundstrokes.

“It’s the biggest moment in my career. He’s the best clay-court player of all time,” said the 24-year-old, who is seeded 23 here and takes on Nikolay Davydenko next.

“During the match, I was just telling myself this is another match, that I shouldn’t care it’s the fourth round of the French Open against Nadal. I kept telling myself I have to believe.”

Nadal, who had only lost one set in his last 17 victories in Paris, had been bidding to become the first player to win the title five years in succession here.

He will remain equal on four with Bjorn Borg, Soderling’s fellow Swede.

“I am expecting at least a text from him,” Soderling joked.

Nadal was adamant his congested calendar prior to Roland Garros was not the reason for his defeat.

He also denied he had underestimated Soderling, who had lost 6-0 6-1 to the Spaniard on the clay in Rome last month.

“He didn’t surprise me because I know how he plays, how dangerous he can be. It was the level of my game that was a surprise to me,” Nadal said.

Nadal’s defeat quite understandably overshadowed everything else that happened at Roland Garros today.

Murray had hours earlier set up a quarter-final clash with practice partner Fernando Gonzalez, the 12th seed, thanks to a 7-5 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 win over Cilic.

The Scot made just 14 unforced errors on Suzanne Lenglen court, his often cautious approach working perfectly as 13th seed Cilic made errors on both wings.

“I came through all the tough situations well,” said Murray.

“I was obviously happy to win in straight sets because he’s been playing very well.”

Chile’s Gonzalez beat 30th seed Victor Hanescu 6-2 6-4 6-2, mainly thanks to his booming forehand that tore the Romanian to shreds.

“I could do what I wanted with my forehand and backhand,” said Gonzalez, who hit 50 winners.

In today’s last fourth-round match, 10th seed Davydenko ended eighth seed Fernando Verdasco’s hopes with a surprisingly comfortable 6-2 6-2 6-4 victory.

Andy Murray will launch his latest bid to win his first grand slam title with a first-round match against Juan Ignacio Chela at the French Open.

Argentina’s Chela, a clay-court specialist, reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in 2004 but has not progressed past the second round since then.

Given third-seed Murray has shown signs of improvement on clay in 2009, he will be favourite to progress to a second-round meeting with either Germany’s Mischa Zverev or Potito Starace of Italy.

The first seeded player the British number one could meet is Feliciano Lopez, the 28th seed from Spain, in the third round.

Murray has won three of his previous four meetings against Chela, although none of those clashes were on clay.

Their last match-up was in Madrid - which was then a hard-court event - in 2007 with Murray a comfortable 6-1 6-3 victor.

Rafael Nadal, the reigning four-time champion here, is again the player to beat this year and the top seed from Spain will open his campaign with a first-round match against an as-yet-unknown qualifier.

The winner of the tie between Russian pair Igor Kunitsyn and Teimuraz Gabashvili should play Nadal in round two.

Roger Federer, the second seed, beat Nadal in Madrid last week but has yet to claim the title at Roland Garros, losing to the Mallorcan on his last four visits here.

The Swiss opens up against Spain’s Alberto Martin while fourth seed Novak Djokovic starts up against Nicolas Lapentti.

The best-looking matches elsewhere in the draw see Ivan Ljubicic take on 2003 winner Juan Carlos Ferrero and 26th seed Ivo Karlovic meet Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, the former world number one.

Juan Monaco, a winner against Murray in Rome recently, was being seen as a dangerous floater in a draw and he landed a plum first-round tie against Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up.

On the women’s side British number one Anne Keothavong was handed a shocking draw after being paired with top seed Dinara Safina on Friday.

Keothavong, who is ranked 56th in the world, can at least claim to be in confident mood going into Roland Garros after reaching the semi-finals of the Warsaw Open - the first time a British woman has reached the last four of a clay-court event for 26 years. The 25-year-old will meet Alona Bondarenko for a place in the final.

Her improvement on clay will be tested again next week when she meets Russian Safina, the top player in the world.

Melanie South will play an as-yet-unknown qualifier, and she may be joined in the draw by another Briton, Elena Baltacha. Katie O’Brien failed to make it out of qualifying.

Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic, seeded eight this year, will play Sara Errani of Italy first up and is in the same quarter of the draw as Safina.

Sisters Serena and Venus Williams are in opposite sides of the draw, meaning they could only meet each other in the final.

Second seed and 2002 champion Serena, has a first-round tie against the Czech Republic’s Klara Zakopalova while Venus takes on fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Fourth seed Elena Dementieva opens up against a qualifier and fifth seed Jelena Jankovic, of Serbia, comes up first against Petra Cetkovska.

Andy Murray may have lost at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome but he is confident his clay-court game is improving.

After receiving a first-round bye, Murray fell to qualifier Juan Monaco of Argentina in the second round of the singles, 48 hours after he had lost in the doubles.

Murray raced into a one-set lead, but Monaco then raised his game to triumph 1-6 6-3 7-5.

“It came down to a few points here and there,” a philosophical Murray said. “I didn’t think I hit the ball as clean as I did in Monte Carlo.”

Yesterday’s defeat was Murray’s earliest exit at an event since the Beijing Olympics, but the Scot was keen to focus on the positives.

“I’ve had a great eight months,” Murray said. “I haven’t lost early for a long time. I knew it was going to happen some time and it has.”

Murray’s advisor Alex Corretja, a former clay-court specialist himself, had predicted the Brit would be in for a tough contest.

And although the Spaniard was proved right, Murray feels his clay-court game is progressing.

“I am playing much better on clay with respect to last year,” Murray said. “(I need to) work hard to get ready for Madrid.”

Murray won the Masters Series event in Madrid last year.

The 21-year-old had faced Monaco once before, in Miami earlier this year, but that match was played on a hard court.

And Monaco felt he was always going to have the advantage on the clay.

“In Miami we played a great game and it was very intense. Andy played very well and he served really well that day,” Monaco said.

“But I knew my play was going to be better than in Miami. I knew I had an advantage because I really like playing on clay.”

Pat Cash believes Andy Murray has what it takes to become the first Brit since Fred Perry to win a grand slam.

Australian Cash, who won the title in 1987, admits he would be “surprised” if the young Scot did not win a grand slam at some point and believes the home advantage of Wimbledon represents his best opportunity.

World number four Murray, 21, reached the quarter-finals in London last year and only lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the last eight.

While he has yet to go all the way, Cash believes Murray can finally deliver after previous British number ones Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski came up short.

Cash told PA Sport: “I’d be surprised if he didn’t win a grand slam, for sure. You never know with injuries but, if it all goes to plan physically, I’d be surprised if he didn’t do it in the next couple of years.

“It is a huge advantage at Wimbledon to have all of that crowd cheering for you - give me that any day over the crowd cheering against you!

“He is getting close already to a grand slam and Wimbledon will be an extra boost with the home crowd.”

Rusedski was a US Open runner-up while Henman was a semi-finalist at three of the four majors, but Cash firmly believes Murray can finally answer the call of British tennis fans.

“I think most of those guys had just about everything but didn’t quite have everything - and Andy does,” the Australian continued.

“He’s mentally tough, physically tough, he’s very quick, he’s got the game, technique and know-how around the court.

“Most of the other guys - Henman, Rusedski, even guys like Jeremy Bates, who was a top-30 player - they had almost everything but didn’t quite have the full package. And that is the difference, Andy has everything and he continues to develop.”

Murray is known for his aggressive streak, but Cash believes nastiness is not an essential element.

“I don’t think you necessarily need it but I think it helps to have some fire in the belly,” he added.

“Some of the nicest guys in the world are champions but the majority of champions have got some real aggression and fire in the belly. If you go out there and you compete day in, day out, it’s not easy.”