TENNIS Dementieva upends V. Williams in Nasdaq-100 quarterfinals

Serena's sister sprained her foot in the second set and had four double-faults.
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) -- Venus Williams toed the baseline to serve for the match, needing four points to reach a semifinal for the first time since last summer.
She failed to come through. In fact, she was hardly able to put the ball in play. Williams hit four double-faults, including three in a row to lose the game, opening the door for Elena Dementieva to rally and win 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (3) in the quarterfinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open.
Williams sprained her right foot during the second set, but shaky serving hurt her more. She had 11 double faults and lost serve six times.
Dementieva overcame a match point and erratic play of her own to win the tense but unsightly 21/2-hour duel. "It was a very difficult, long, but I think, interesting match," the No. 5-seeded Russian said.
No sister matchup
Williams' defeat spoiled a potential renewal of her sibling rivalry with younger sister Serena in the final Saturday. Instead, Dementieva advanced to tonight's semifinals when she'll play fellow Russian Nadia Petrova, seeded eighth, who beat Nathalie Dechy 6-2, 6-2.
Top-seeded Serena Williams was to play No. 25 Eleni Daniilidou in the other semifinal.
In men's play, No. 3-seeded Guillermo Coria of Argentina and No. 21 Fernando Gonzalez advanced, and they'll play an all-South American semifinal Friday. Coria beat unseeded Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 6-3, and Gonzalez rallied past unseeded Andrei Pavel 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.
Slowed by injuries since last summer, Williams has slipped to No. 17 in the rankings and has played only 10 matches in four events this year, never advancing beyond the quarterfinals.
A three-time champion at Key Biscayne, she was seeded second but unable to take advantage of a field missing the world's five highest-ranked players, including No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne.
Asked to assess the state of her game, a subdued Williams said: "Just on the up and up."
The latest upset defeat had all the characteristics of a Venus loss: She committed 51 unforced errors and played hurt.
Williams took a nine-minute timeout for treatment when she rolled her right foot in the final game of the second set. She actually played better when the match resumed, winning 14 of the next 17 points to take a 3-0 lead in the last set.