Williams sisters out of Rome tennis tournament, set sights on Paris

AFP ©

ROME (AFP) - World number six Serena Williams has pulled out of the WTA Rome International after hurting her back while training, but thinks she will recover in time for the French Open less than two weeks away.

Her sister Venus soon followed her off the red clay at the Foro Italico, losing in three sets to Serbian titleholder Jelena Jankovic in the quarter finals on Friday.

The fifth-seeded Serena, 26, said of her back injury: "It just happened all of a sudden in practice. I just went for a shot and then my back got a little stuck."

She added: "I don't expect this to cause any problems in my preparations for the French," which begins on May 25 in Paris.

The younger Williams was to have met French sensation Alize Cornet in the quarter-finals on Friday after winning through to the last eight in two straight-sets matches.

Venus, for her part, had her power game dismantled by fourth-seeded Jankovic, who won 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

"I had a lot of great opportunities and I made a lot of opportunities for myself, but I made mistakes," the American world number nine admitted.

Looking ahead, 27-year-old Venus said: "I'm always looking forward to the French (Open). Obviously I would have loved to be in the semifinals tomorrow, but now I have the opportunity to work on my game and I feel good about that."

Jankovic will meet second-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova, who saw off Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in a blistering night match, 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 6-2.

The 21-year-old second seed, who will next week reclaim the world number one ranking following Justine Henin's retirement, moved into high gear to overcome a flagging Schnyder in the third set.

A match of breathtaking power also produced some of the most daring gambles, especially in the run-up to the first-set tiebreaker, when both players came up with daring drop shots.

"Even though I lost the tiebreaker I felt I was doing better and doing the right things," Sharapova said.

"As the match went on I started playing a little smarter and started doing what I do best -- not letting my opponents get back into points."

The other semi-final will pit 18-year-old Cornet against sixth seed Russian Anna Chakvetadze who put an end to a dream run for 20-year-old Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.

Pironkova struggled to find the power and depth with which she upset top seed Ana Ivanovic in the second round on Wednesday.

The error-strewn match was Chakvetadze's third three-setter of the tournament.

Pironkova, who has yet to get beyond the second round in a major, will rise in the rankings from 64 to 54 thanks to her run in Rome and the best win of her career so far from ousting world number three Ivanovic.

Cornet, ranked 34th in the world and also a qualifier here, romped into the quarter-finals on Thursday by upsetting world number five Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, 6-2, 6-4.

When she learned that Serena Williams had pulled out of the tournament, Cornet said she was happy to be in the semi-finals.

"But it's not the same satisfaction as when you win a real match," she said.