V. Williams last seed left at Madrid Open

MADRID, May 14 (UPI) -- Venus Williams won Friday in straight sets, the only favorite to get through the quarterfinal round of the Madrid Open clay-court tennis tournament.

Williams, the tournament's No. 4 seed, handled eighth-seeded Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-3. Williams had eight aces and was good on 70 percent of her first serves. She is the only seeded player left in the field.

Seventh-seeded Jelena Jankovic fell 7-5, 6-4 to Aravane Rezai. Jankovic was on the defensive much of the match, having to fight off 18 break-point situations -- 16 in the first set. Rezai was able to cash in two of those opportunities in each set.

Shahar Peer dropped 13th-seeded Na Li 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a match in which both players won 118 points but Peer notched six service breaks to five for Na.

No. 16-seeded Nadia Petrova was beaten 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 by Lucie Safarova in another close match.

Williams will go against Peer in Saturday's semifinals while Rezai and Safarova meet in the other semi. The winners advance to Sunday's title match with a first-place check for $780,000 at stake. The runner-up takes home $390,000 while the semifinal losers each earn $170,000.