Venus, Henin both ousted

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Venus Williams followed her sister Serena out of the Australian Open in the quarterfinals, both in losses to Serbian players.

Venus went down 7-6 (3), 6-4 to fourth-seeded Ana Ivanovic on Wednesday, a day after defending champion Serena lost to No. 3 Jelena Jankovic.

Ivanovic, who had never taken a set off Williams in four previous contests, is into the semifinals for the third time at a Grand Slam and next faces first-timer Daniela Hantuchova, who beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-2.

In the other women's semifinal Jankovic will meet No. 5 Maria Sharapova, who ended top-ranked Justine Henin's 32-match winning streak 6-4, 6-0.

After four straight losses to Venus Williams, including the semifinals at Wimbledon and the fourth round at the U.S. Open, 20-year-old Ivanovic was thrilled to win.

"It was an amazing match and I'm just thrilled to get through," the French Open finalist said. "In the last 18 months I've come a long way.

"She's an amazing competitor and she was playing very well today."

A third Serbian player has a chance of making the semis at Melbourne Park, with men's No. 3 Novak Djokovic playing David Ferrer of Spain later Wednesday.

Defending champion Roger Federer goes against No. 12 James Blake in the night match.

Neither Ivanovic nor Williams showed any respect for the other's serve.

There were six consecutive breaks in the first set alone.

Shaking her head and sighing, Williams had 21 unforced errors in the first set to just 7 winners as she sprayed the ball all over the court.

She won just one of her five service points in the tiebreaker, covering her face with her hand after netting a straightforward backhand volley to give Ivanovic a 5-2 edge.

Then, after swatting away flies three times as she prepared to serve, Williams hit a swinging backhand volley into the net on set point.

Serena Williams was unseeded and ranked No. 81 when she made her stunning run to a third Australian and eighth Grand Slam title here 12 months ago, punctuating that with an emphatic 6-1, 6-2 win over Sharapova in one of the most lopsided Grand Slam finals.

That loss stung Sharapova, who wants to make amends this year.

"Even though I beat Justine, it's definitely not over," she said. "I still have a lot of business to take care of."

Sharapova, who struggled with a shoulder problem for most of last season, started returning to her best at the WTA championships in November before losing in three sets to Henin in 3 hours, 24 minutes -- among the dozen longest women's tour matches in the Open era.

She turned the tables in only 1:38 on Tuesday, inflicting the first 6-0 set on Henin since 2002.

"I really felt like I was in a bubble," No. 5 Sharapova said. "I think it was one of the most consistent matches where I did all the things I wanted to do, and I did them correctly from the beginning to the end ... and just played the way I can play."

Henin, who struggled with her serve and was broken five times by Sharapova, said she had a minor concern over a lingering knee injury but put the end of her winning streak down as an inevitability.

"It's very hard to be at your best level all the time," she said. "I'll have to think about that and build again for the future."