Fourth seed and defending champion Jelena Jankovic shrugged off a first-set loss to send Venus Williams crashing out of the Italian Open 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. Venus was seeded seventh at this tournament. Meanwhile, fifth-seeded Serena Williams withdrew from her quarter-final match due to a back problem. Williams’ back froze suddenly while warming up on a practice court for her match with French qualifier Alize Cornet.Russian Anna Chakvetadze defeated Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
