Oct 1, 2008 - 4:25 PM
0 shoutsSTUTTGART, Germany (Ticker) -- China's Li Na remained perfect against the Williams sisters.
The unseeded Li upset top-seeded Serena Williams, 0-6, 6-1, 6-4, in Wednesday's second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
With the victory, the 26-year-old Li improved to 2-0 against the Williams family this season, having also upset Venus Williams en route to the Olympic semifinals in Beijing.
Serena Williams, who received a first-round bye at this hardcourt event, was seeing her first action since winning her ninth Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open last month.
The 27-year-old American also ascended to the top of the rankings with that triumph. But with the loss against Li, she now will be replaced atop the rankings by Jelena Jankovic next week.
"Obviously I want to be No. 1, but I am not focusing on that," Williams said. "I am focusing on winning titles and that goes hand in hand (with getting No. 1)."
Williams looked like the best player in world as she won the first set at love, but never broke Li's serve thereafter.
Trailling 5-3 in the final set, Williams held serve but then squandered three break chances to get the match even.
Li's quarterfinal opponent will be the winner of the second-round match between Nadia Petrova and Patty Schnyder, who advanced Wednesday with an upset of her own. The 29-year-old Switzerland native knocked off fifth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
On what was a rough day for seeded players, No. 8 Agnieszka Radwanska also was sent packing as unseeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus moved into the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 7-5, victory over the Pole.
Seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia did survive, moving through to the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Daniela Hantuchova.
Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva, the No. 4 seed, will try to book her place in the quarterfinals Wednesday when she meets Austria's Sybille Bammer.
First prize is $100,000.
