Wimbledon champion Venus Williams crashed out of the Charleston WTA claycourt tournament yesterday, losing 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) to German 16th seed Sabine Lisicki.
Wimbledon champion Venus Williams crashed out of the Charleston WTA claycourt tournament yesterday, losing 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) to German 16th seed Sabine Lisicki.
Second seed Williams, who was the champion here in 2004, sent down five double faults and showed the same weaknesses in her game that were obvious in her three-set struggle against Sania Mirza in Wednesday's second round.
Defeat meant Venus was unable to keep the title in the family after sister Serena won here in 2008.
Lisicki will tackle either Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine or Russia's Elena Vesnina in the last eight. "I'll try to come back next year and win," said Venus. "I made some mistakes at the wrong time and she played some great shots."
Also going through to the quarter-finals was French sixth seed Marion Bartoli who eased past America's Melanie Oudin 6-4, 6-1.
Bartoli will face either Russian fourth seed Nadia Petrova or Melinda Czink of Hungary for a place in the last four.
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