Fri May 9 14:56:33 2008

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Serena suffers QF loss in Berlin

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Berlin, Germany (Sports Network) - For the second time in two days, Dinara Safina knocked off a top-10 superstar, as the Russian ousted previously red-hot American Serena Williams on Friday to reach the semifinals at the $1.34 million German Open, a clay-court French Open tuneup.

The 13th-seeded Safina stunned world No. 1 Justine Henin in straight sets here on Thursday, and toppled a fifth-seeded Williams on Friday in three sets, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), at LTTC Rot-Weiss. The former top-ranked Williams was riding a torrid 17-match winning streak and seeking a fourth title in four events.

The eight-time Grand Slam champion and 2002 Berlin runner-up Williams, who fell to 21-2 this season, hadn't lost since giving way to Serbian star Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals at January's Australian Open.

The giant-killer Safina will face last week's Prague runner-up Victoria Azarenka in Saturday's semifinals, as the Belarusian Azarenka surprised 15th- seeded Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 on Day 5.

A fourth-seeded Jankovic joined the list of upset victims here when seventh- seeded Russian Elena Dementieva dismissed the Serb, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

One other quarterfinal bout was suspended because of darkness on Friday, as second-seeded and defending Berlin champion Ana Ivanovic was knotted with 10th-seeded Hungarian Agnes Szavay 3-6, 6-4 when play was halted for the day. The Australian and French Open runner-up Ivanovic and Szavay will complete their match here on Saturday, with the winner then taking on the two-time Grand Slam runner-up Dementieva.

The Serbian Ivanovic beat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in last year's Berlin finale.

The 2008 German Open titlist will pocket $196,900.