Venus loses, ending shot at 5th all-Williams final

WIMBLEDON, England (AP):

There will be no all-Williams final at Wimbledon this year.

Defending champion Serena has a good chance of playing for her fourth title on Saturday, but big sister and five-time winner Venus will be a spectator this time.

Venus was ousted in the quarter-finals yesterday, losing 6-2, 6-3 to 82nd-ranked Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.

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 US Open winner Kim Clijsters 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first Wimbledon semi-final, where she will face Pironkova.

Consistent serves

Serena Williams avoided the wave of upsets, beating China's Li Na 7-5, 6-3 and moving closer to her 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 semi-final 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 is the first time two unseeded players have reached the women's semi-finals at Wimbledon since 1999.

The Williams sisters have played each other in four Wimbledon finals, with Serena winning for the third time last year. "It's not mine to lose, it's mine to win if I can get it," she said. "There are three other people that are vying to win it. They have just as good a chance as I do."

Kvitova does not give herself much of a chance.

"She won here I don't know how many times," she said. "I lost against her in the Australian Open. It was very quick. I'm not favourite, so I can play just my game and just play and enjoy."

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," said Williams. "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.

"If there was a shot to miss, I think I missed it. ... I didn't bring my best tennis today."

"Honestly, I think no one expected me to play semi-final in Wimbledon and to beat Venus Williams like that," said Pironkova.

"I still cannot believe that I reached the semi-finals. This is truly like a dream to me."