Olympics singles now Williams-less

BEIJING -- Serena Williams lost to Elena Dementieva of Russia, and as the clock approached midnight, Venus Williams was beaten by Li Na of China.

The startling sequence came in a tournament that had gone mostly according to form through three rounds. But upsets have long been the norm in Olympic tennis -- since 1988, no top-five player has won the gold medal in men's singles.

No. 4-seeded Serena struggled with her serve early against Dementieva, then staged a rally in the final set. Williams overcame two match points during an 18-point game to hold for 5-3.

But Dementieva held at love in the next game, sealing the victory when Williams pushed a volley wide. The loss came after the U.S. team had won 12 consecutive matches over the past three days.

"There's no reason I should have lost," Williams said. "I missed some key shots that I probably shouldn't have missed. That was that."

A wayward forehand and 12 double-faults doomed Venus Williams. The reigning Wimbledon champion sent a forehand long to lose serve and fall behind 6-5 in the second set, then had three more forehand errors in the final game.

When Li hit a service winner on match point, the crowd responded with the biggest roar of the tournament.

"She played the match of her life," Williams said. "Not much I could do about it. So it was definitely a surprise result for me."

The Williams sisters remained in contention for a doubles medal and were later to play a second-round match together. They won a gold in doubles in 2000 in Sydney, and Venus also won the gold there in singles.