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Venus Williams prodcued one of her best performances in years to stun defending champion Maria Sharapova and return to the Wimbledon final.

The two-time winner triumphed 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 to reach her fifth final in SW19 in six years.

Williams took charge of the match from the off, often pushing her opponent on to the back foot with her superb depth of shot.

Sharapova was no pushover though and she hit back from a break down, saving two set points when down 3-5, one with a stunning cross-court forehand.

The Russian broke back to force the tie-break, but Williams opened up the early advantage in that and this time didn't relinquish it.

The champion from 2000 and 2001 was flying and she continued to impress, breaking Sharapova to love in the first game of the second set.

The second seed just couldn't live with the more experienced Williams, who was also the better player on the volley, and she was soon a double break down and staring defeat in the face.

To her credit she never gave up, but Williams - after squandering a match point with an awful miss on the backhand - claimed her place in the final at the second attempt, Sharapova sending a shot wide.

A beaming Williams said afterwards: "I have a good record here and it's kind of fallen into step.

"I've just been raising my form and this is the surface for me. I've just been working hard with my mum and my dad and trying not to be a hot-headed kid."

She also revealed a source of inspiration had been a message from sister Serena, a surprise third-round casualty this year.

"Serena sent me an e-mail telling me what to do and to stay in there and play my game and that I was the best," added Williams. "I guess I took that to heart."

A dejected Sharapova, who appeared close to tears afterwards, paid tribute to Williams, admitting: "I just played against a really good opponent, I thought we played a really good match and today it went to the better person.

"I don't think I played my best tennis, but credit to her for not making me play my best. She hit a lot of hard deep balls, serving consistently big, and on the contrary I don't think I was serving as big."

Williams will now face either Lindsay Davenport or Amelie Mauresmo in Saturday's showpiece.

Davenport was leading 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-4) 5-3 when rain, which had earlier caused a four-hour delay, returned to SW19.

That had been a remarkable turnaround from the world number one.

After losing the first set on the tie-break, Mauresmo having blown a set point with a double fault at 5-3, Davenport twice fell a break down in the second.

However, she showed all her fighting qualities to level the match in another tense breaker.

It was also nip and tuck in the deciding set, but Davenport clinched a crucial break of serve in the seventh game.

She looked ready to set up a repeat of the 2000 final against Williams when, with Mauresmo 15-0 up while serving to stay in the match, the rain forced the players off for the day.

The pair will now return at 1300 BST on Friday to complete their contest, with Mauresmo's hopes hanging by a thread.