Serena out of golden singles bid after loss to Dementieva

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — Serena Williams' bid for a first Olympic singles gold went up in smoke here on Thursday after she lost to Russian number five seed Elena Dementieva in the quarter-finals.

Number four seed Williams, who won doubles gold with her sister Venus at the Sydney Games but missed Athens four years ago through injury, went down 6-3, 4-6, 3-6 to this year's Wimbledon semi-finalist.

Dementieva, who also won Olympic singles silver in 2000, will play either unseeded Austrian Sybille Bammer or her ninth seeded compatriot Vera Zvonareva for a place in the final.

Williams had opened strongly, racing out to a 4-1 lead to set up the first set.

The second set saw Williams break Dementieva in her third game, but the Russian rebounded strongly, breaking...