Sharapova defeats Venus in first meeting

ZURICH, Switzerland, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova ousted Venus Williams in the quarterfinals of the Swisscom Challenge Friday, 6-3, 6-4.

The high-profile match featured plenty of unforced errors, but Sharapova prevailed in just over an hour for her 11th straight victory. It was the first meeting of the two stars.

Sharapova will next meet Elene Dementieva, who defeated Ai Sugiyama, 6-1, 5-7, 7-5. It will be the third confrontation for Sharapova and Dementieva with Sharapova having won two of them.

The other semifinal will send Patty Schnyder against Olympic bronze medalist Alicia Molik.

Molik was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Nadia Petrova and Schnyder defeated Paola Suarez, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.