MASON, Ohio — Olympic champion Serena Williams suffered her first loss in nearly three months Friday as she was knocked out of the Cincinnati Open quarterfinals, falling 6-4, 6-4 to Germany's Angelique Kerber. While older sister Venus Williams continued her progress and moved through to the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 win over US Open champion Samantha Stosur, Serena struggled against an impressive Kerber en route to just her fourth defeat of the year. Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, struggling with a sore shoulder, was beaten 6-1 6-1 by ninth-seed Li Na of China. Serena, who had not lost since her opening round defeat at the French Open, complained of fatigue after her last 16 match Thursday but she fell Friday to an opponent who used a mix of intelligence and technique to make her life difficult. “It was probably for the best that I didn't win today, even though I wanted to win. But maybe my body was like telling me not to. I don't know,” said Serena, whose loss came in her 31st match, including singles and doubles action, since the start of Wimbledon. Kerber, who has reached at least the quarterfinals in 12 of 17 events played this year, double-faulted on match point but on her third chance used a blistering ace to win the match. The German's opponent in Saturday's semifinal will be Czech fourth seed Petra Kvitova, who beat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 7-6. On the men's side, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro won their Western & Southern Open quarterfinals in straight sets, setting up a reprise of their bronze medal match at the Olympics. Del Potro won that one. Del Potro has been nursing a sore left wrist that he'll have examined before the US Open, which he won in 2009. He beat France's Jeremy Chardy 6-1, 6-3 to reach the semifinals. Djokovic reached a Masters semifinal for the second straight week by knocking off Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-2. He won the Rogers Cup in Toronto last Sunday. Top-ranked Roger Federer beat Mardy Fish 6-3, 7-6 (4) in an evening match to reach the semifinals. He'll play Stanislas Wawrinka, who beat Milos Raonic 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the afternoon. Federer skipped the Rogers Cup, taking a week off the tour after playing the Olympics. He's been sharp on the hard courts this week, playing what he called “high-quality tennis.” Bhupathi, Bopanna dropped India's national tennis selectors have dropped Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna from the Davis Cup squad to take on New Zealand after they refused to play in the Olympics. The All India Tennis Association said in a press release Saturday that the players had been dropped for “the stand taken by them regarding selection for the Olympics team” when both had refused to partner India's top-ranked player Leander Paes. Paes and Somdev Devvarman are also not in the team after they asked to be left out. India announced a new-look team comprising Yuki Bhambri, Vishnu Vardhan, Saketh Myneni, Divij Sharan, Sanam Singh and Sriram Narayanaswamy for the Sept. 14-16 tie to be held in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh. — Agencies
