Venus upset, Serena wins in Wimbledon quarters

WIMBLEDON, England — Five-time champion Venus Williams was ousted in the Wimbledon quarterfinals Tuesday, losing 6-2, 6-3 to 82nd-ranked Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.

Defending champion Serena Williams, however, stayed on course to keep the title in family hands.

Venus, seeded second, had reached the Wimbledon final in eight of the past 10 years. This time, she was undone by a slew of unforced errors and double-faults in her worst loss at Wimbledon in terms of games won — five.

In another surprise, 21st-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia rallied past two-time U.S. Open winner Kim Clijsters 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first Wimbledon semifinal, where she will face Pironkova.

Serena Williams avoided the wave of upsets, beating China's Li Na 7-5, 6-3 and moving closer to her fourth Wimbledon title and 13th Grand Slam championship. The top-seeded Serena had 11 aces to take her tournament total to 73, breaking the record of 72 she set last year. She had 21 winners and just six unforced errors.

"I always serve well at Wimbledon, but this is the first time I've ever served this well so consistently," Serena said.

Her semifinal opponent is 62nd-ranked Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who saved five match points before beating Estonian qualifier Kaia Kanepi 4-6, 7-6 (8), 8-6.

"I'm very happy," said the 20-year-old Kvitova, her voice shaking. "I can't believe it. It's something incredible."

It's the first time two unseeded players have reached the women's semifinals at Wimbledon since 1999. With all the other big names gone, Serena Williams is the overwhelming favorite for the title.

"It's not mine to lose, it's mine to win if I can get it," she said. "There's three other people that are vying to win it. They have just as good a chance as I do."

Serena said she's not surprised the left-handed Kvitova got this far.

"She's a really tough player, especially on grass," she said.

Venus never got going against the 22-year-old Pironkova, who is the lowest-ranked player remaining in the women's draw and had never previously passed the second round in 18 previous Grand Slam appearances.

"I just didn't get enough balls in today," Williams said. "I let it spiral and didn't get any balls in. I had a lot of opportunities, a lot of short balls and I seemed to hit each one out.