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SAN DIEGO,July 31: California, July 31 (AFP): Top-seeded Serena Williams withdrew from her quarter-final match at the 1.3 million-dollar WTA hardcourt tournament here Friday with a left knee injury that left her immediate playing plans in doubt.
Williams's injury comes just three days after older sister Venus pulled out of the tournament with a sprained right wrist.
The injury is in the same knee in which Serena Williams partially tore her quadriceps tendon last year.
The ensuing surgery on August 1 - and a leisurely rehabilitation - kept the former world number one sidelined for eight months before her return in March.
Meanwhile, the young Russians continue to dominate the event with three through to the semi-finals.
Elena Dementieva was the first to advance with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Amy Frazier, of the US. Dementieva will face another American in the semis Lindsay Davenport a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Japan's Ai Sugiyama.
The second semi will be an all-Russian matchup featuring French Open champ Anastasia Myskina and Vera Zvonareva.
Williams will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of her injury. She is scheduled to play in Montreal next week and also has the Olympics and US Open on the horizon, a pair of events she said she was looking forward to playing.
She received treatment after the match but decided to pull out hours before her quarter-final against Zvonareva.
Meanwile, Roger Federer notched his 21st victory in a row Friday, orchestrating a 7-5, 6-4 victory over fluent Frenchman Fabrice Santoro to roll into the semi-finals of the 2.56-million-dollar Masters Series.
The Swiss top seed, a runway world number one, produced a 13th straight win against a French opponent as he moved alongside a trio of former tennis greats with his current win streak.
The superlative Swiss player's run of form - he hasn't lost since the third round at Roland Garrros to Gustavo Kuerten - matches one of Pete Sampras in 1996 as well as onetime streaks of Stefan Edberg and Ivan Lendl.
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