Serena, Venus both out of Italian Open

ROME, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Williams sisters have both been out of the Italian Open WTA tournament after Venus was beaten by defending champion Jelena Jankovic and Serena pulled out at the quarterfinals on Friday.

Seventh seed Venus lost 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 to the Serb, and fifth-seeded Serena withdrew due to a back injury.

Jankovic's semifinal opponent will be Russia's number two seed Maria Sharapova who beat Swiss Patty Schnyder 6-7, 7-5, 6-2.

Serena's withdrawal sent 18-year-old French qualifier Alize Cornet into the semis against sixth-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze as the latter won 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 over Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova.

Neither Venus nor Jankovic were able to stamp their authority on the early phases of their quarterfinal, but Venus paid for too many unforced errors in the final set as Jankovic won five consecutive games on the way to clinching the match.