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Jankovic stuns woeful Venus in Rome

Serena Williams overpowered Maria Kirilenko with some great hitting © Getty Images

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Jelena Jankovic stamped out the chance of an all-Williams semi-final as she produced a stunning attack of ground strokes to crush Venus Williams 6-0 6-1.

Williams looked out of form as she struggled with her serve throughout the match. The American directed a mere 41% of her first-serves in and served five double faults as she crumbled to humiliating fashion. In contrast, Jankovic served superbly and, after rescuing two break points in the first two games of the opening set, dropped a single service game against her powerful opponent.

Despite being clearly surprised by Wiliams' performance, Jankovic looked sharp as she finished off several points with a string of perfect mid-court forehands. The Serb's dominance saw her complete her biggest win over eithe of the Williams sisters in a breathtaking 59 minutes.

"I had so many tough matches against Venus," Jankovic said. "It's great to win and winning 6-0 6-1 is really unbelievable.

"When you play against a Williams sister you can't relax at all, you just have to go out there and it give it your best."

Jankovic, a two-time winner of the Italian Open, will be in confident mood ahead of her semi-final clash with Serena Williams, who breezed past Maria Kirilenko 6-1 6-4. Williams, the 2002 winner is making her comeback from injury in Rome, having not competed in a tournament since winning her 12th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.

If she looked rusty during her second-round win against Andrea Petkovic - losing the second set - then she appeared back to her best in the quarter-final against Kirilenko.

The American used her force to overpower her opponent in the opening stanza, winning over 60% of the points on offer as she clinched the set in a shade over 30 minutes.

The writing was on the wall for Kirilenko, who has never beaten Williams, after she lost her serve in the first game of the second set. The Russian eventually got on the board in the fifth game, but it was far too late for her to launch a comeback.

The all-Williams semi-final will take place if Venus can overcome Jelena Jankovic later on Thursday.

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez followed up her shock defeat of Caroline Wozniacki with a 7-6(8) 6-4 victory against Lucie Safarova. After a tight first set in which both players gave away few points on serve, there were breaks aplenty in the second. Martinez Sanchez claimed three of them to set up a semi-final tie against Ana Ivanovic, who overcame Russia's Nadia Petrova with a powerful display of accurate ground strokes in a comfortable 6-2 7-5 win.

Ivanovic's serve was solid throughout and her aggressive returning saw her break Petrova's serve twice in the first set. Petrova put up more resistance in the second, breaking Ivanovic twice, but the Serb was not to be undone as she tied up the match with three second-set service breaks of her own.

At the Estoril Open, No. 2 seed Sorana Cirstea overcame difficulties on her first serve to defeat Arantxa Rus 6-4 6-1 in the quarters. The 38-year-old was accurate with less than half of her first deliveries, but Rus was unable to make any inroads into the second serve.

Arantxa Parra Santonja will be Cirstea's semi-final opponent, after she recovered from a set down to beat Jarmila Groth 6-7 7-5 7-5.

Elsewhere, seventh seed Shaui Peng survived an early scare to eventually overcome Anabel Medina Garrigues 4-6 6-4 6-3. She will face Anastasija Sevastova, who vanquished Anastasia Rodionova, in the last four.

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