Venus Williams after injuring her ankle in Miami on Wednesday

Miami: Second-seeded Venus Williams was knocked out of the Miami Masters 3-6, 7-5, 6-7 by Russia’s Elena Dementieva in the quarter finals on Wednesday as the American battled to shake off a foot injury.

The fifth-seeded Dementieva could have won in straight sets but failed to close out the match when serving at 5-4 in the second. Venus was hindered by a foot injury two games later when she landed awkwardly after a forehand. The American was forced to take a three-minute injury time-out as she received treatment.

Venus got to set-point in the next game and levelled the match when Dementieva’s forehand sailed long. Venus broke again at the start of the third set and while Dementieva retrieved the break, Venus had a chance to serve out the match at 5-3. Four double-faults let Dementieva back and the Russian finally sealed victory in tie-breaker.

Paes-Rikl in quarters, Bhupathi-Mirnyi out

Leander Paes and David Rikl moved into the doubles quarter finals with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) win over Jared Palmer and Pavel Vizner. The seventh-seeded Indo-Czech pair, having shut out Sebastien Prieto-Andre Sa in the first round, will now meet Todd Woodbridge and Jonas Bjorkman. Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi bowed out, losing 6-7 (3/7), 5-7 Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Sebastian Grosjean in the second round.

(Reuters)