(updates after Kuznetsova v Safina)
By James Eve
ROME, May 18 - Former world number one Serena
Williams slid out of the Italian Open following a 6-3 2-6 7-6
defeat by Patty Schnyder in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Playing her first tournament since a groin strain forced her
to pull out of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston last month,
Williams struggled to find her rhythm against the 14th seed and
paid the price for an error-strewn performance.
"I'm just really surprised that I won. In the first set she
was missing a lot, then in the second my game went wrong," said
Schnyder.
"The third set was just really tough, very close. I tried to
mix it up, but she's such a champion that you have to expect her
to hit a lot of winners. I'm really happy and lucky to be
through to the next round."
Schnyder's reward will be a semi-final against third seed
Jelena Jankovic, who produced an impressive display of baseline
hitting to sweep past Elena Dementieva 6-2 6-1.
In the other half of the draw, second seed Svetlana
Kuznetsova also progressed with a 6-1 6-3 win over fellow
Russian Dinara Safina.
Williams, the Australian Open champion, was left to reflect
on a wayward performance.
"I just didn't make the shots that I should have. I probably
hit about 50 unforced errors, which is pretty good to get to 7-6
in the third (set)," she said.
Asked whether she still felt confident of a good run at
Roland Garros later this month, the American replied:
"Absolutely. It's good to get some hard matches and long points
under my belt.
"I think not winning today is going to work well for me
because it will give me time to get even fitter. As soon as I
start to believe in myself I'm going to be a lot better."
Schnyder had lost six of her previous seven matches against
Williams, though her one victory had come on clay, at Charleston
in 2002.
Williams started badly, misfiring her shots into the net and
tramlines to drop serve in the fourth and sixth games. She lost
the first set in just 28 minutes.
WHIPPING WINNER
Three more forehand errors and a double fault gave Schnyder
another break at the start of the second.
From 2-0 down, however, Williams found her range to reel off
the next six games level at one set apiece as mistakes crept
into Schnyder's game.
Williams saved break points in the first and fifth games of
the decider, but started the tiebreak badly, mishitting a
backhand into the tramlines and then netting a backhand before
fighting back to level at 5-5.
A netted forehand, however, gave Schnyder match point, which
she converted by whipping a crosscourt winner into the back
corner.
Jankovic's win over former French Open finalist Dementieva
confirmed her impressive recent form on clay.
The 22-year-old Serb, who has reached at least the
quarter-finals at each of her last four claycourt events,
dragged the 10th seeded Russian around the court with heavy,
angled groundstrokes.
"I used to think that I didn't like clay. I wasn't used to
it and I didn't know how to slide," said Jankovic, who triumphed
in Charleston last month.
"Then I worked with a Spanish coach, I learned how to slide
and I got a lot of confidence, especially after Charleston. I'm
starting to like it out there".