Venus Williams overcame a nervous start to run out a comfortable winner against Nathalie Tauziat and book a semi-final place.

And the defending champion believes she is well on course to defend her Wimbledon title.

"I think I'm playing well," said Venus. "I'm a little wiser than last year and I know a lot more. I think I can get that same kind of form again.

"Once you have done it once you know what it takes to win."

But Williams lost concentration and let her lead slip as Tauziat found her touch.

Williams squandered three set points on her own serve at 5-1 and allowed the French player to break for the first time.

Tauziat won her next service game to love for 3-5, then took full advantage as Williams completely lost her rhythm, hitting two double faults as she was broken again.

"I maybe got a little bit over confident," said Venus. "She started to play a lot better and I felt a little rushed, but I was able to calm down and get through it."

The American eventually regained her composure, making the Frenchwoman - in her final Wimbledon campaign - fight to level at 5-5.

She won her next service game to put pressure on Tauziat, and she duly buckled, double-faulting at 30-0 to hand Williams three set points.

Stinging returns

She took the first one, and her mini-crisis was over.

The second set was a more routine affair, although Tauziat - the losing finalist in 1998 - broke Williams immediately.

But the champion returned the favour, hitting some stinging returns, then won the next game to love as her confidence surged.

A sixth Tauziat double fault at 0-30 gifted Williams another break, and her opponent's tendency to play poorly on pressure points increased as defeat got closer.

Williams broke Tauziat again for 1-5 with a superb lob which left her opponent stranded and dropped right on the baseline.

In the final game, the Cyclops machine wrongly calls a match-winning ace long, but the champion coolly smashed another on the let seal a comfortable victory.