Davenport Advances, Serena and Venus Lose at WTA Amelia Island

In third-round play, No. 5 seed Venus Williams came charging back in a match postponed at one-set all against qualifier Marta Domachowska, rolling the Pole 6-2 in the third set. Venus later took the momentum with her in a quarterfinal match-up with Lindsay Davenport, stunning the world No. 1 6-1 in the opening set before Davenport regained her composure to sweep the next two sets 6-3, 6-4.

"I was still struggling in the second set, but I escaped some trouble when it was 3-all," Davenport said, with Venus committing three unforced errors and a double fault to drop serve at 3-4 in the second set. "I seemed to gain a lot of confidence when that game was over. I was able to move forward and not look back so much...She had a lot of opportunities and had a lot of break points in that second set and didn't take advantage of them."

Venus, who says there is no doubt she will return to the No. 1 ranking, says the loss was "not like her."

"I just didn't win some of the key points," Venus said. "In the end, I rushed too many shots. I had some easy shots, I just didn't make them. That's not like me."

Unseeded Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano also won two Friday, ousting No. 13 seed Ai Sugiyama 7-5 in the third in third-round play, then upsetting No. 6-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva in straight sets.

Others winning two on Friday to gain the semifinals were No. 7-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova (d. (11) Jankovic, and (15) Asagoe in three in a match featuring two bagel sets), and (12) Silvia Farina Elia (d. (8) Schnyder, (2) Serena).

Serena won the first set over Farina Elia and held three match points in the second-set tiebreak before dropping the breaker then retiring with a sprained ankle.

"I was running for a ball and totally twisted my ankle," Serena said. "Things just spiraled downward from there. Of course I wanted to finish the match, but I obviously couldn't move very well and wasn't able to do it. I think Silvia played the best I've ever seen. It's a shame that it had to be like that, but I'll be ready for the next time we play. I hope to play her again."

In earlier third-round play Asagoe upset (3) Anastasia Myskina in two tiebreaks before bowing out, while (12) Farina Elia came from a set down to defeat (8) Patty Schnyder.

On tap for the Saturday semifinals in Amelia Island are (1) Davenport vs. (7) Petrova (Davenport leads career series 5-0), and the unseeded Razzano vs. (12) Farina Elia (F.E. leads 1-0).