Venus Williams Cruises To Wimbledon Final

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL — Despite the looming accident investigation back home, American tennis great Venus Williams earned a coveted spot in the 2017 Wimbledon ladies final, advancing through Thursday's semifinal. The Palm Beach Gardens resident defeated home crowd favorite Johanna Konta of Great Britain. Williams won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.

Playing in her 20th Wimbledon, Williams will take on Spain's Garbiñe Muguruza on Saturday in the women's final. This will be her second grand slam final in 2017 after losing to younger sister Serena Williams at the Australian Open. Sign up for our free Daily Newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Miami Patch.)

Williams, who has won seven grand slam singles titles, including five at Wimbledon, is being sued for unspecified damages and faces a police investigation into a June 9 car crash that resulted in the death of a 78-year-old West Palm Beach man. Surveillance video of the accident has now been viewed at least 4.4 million times since Friday. The video has sparked a debate as to whether the tennis star should be held liable in the death of Jeremy Barson or if she too is a victim.

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"I felt the crowd was very nice to me actually," Williams said after Thursday's match. "I know that they love Jo and she gave it her all today. It was a lot of pressure. It's a lot of pressure and I thought she handled it well. I think my experience just helped a lot."

Palm Beach Gardens police told Patch this week that it is not unusual for crash investigations to take months.

The crash video shows Williams driving past a security guard from a gated community in her Toyota Sequoia SUV at about 6:15 on the video counter (not the time stamp of the security footage). At 6:20, Williams pulls up behind a white vehicle and waits for it to make its way into the intersection before she proceeds.

A Nissan Altima can then be seen crossing from left to right in front of Williams. This is how police believe Williams got caught in the intersection. At 6:44, Williams' SUV can be seen as it is struck by Linda Barson's 2016 Hyundai, which is moving from right to left across the top of the video. Within seconds, the security guard leaves his guard house to call in the accident.

Watch surveillance video of the accident below: