Stosur defeats Venus Williams in Family Circle Cup quarterfinals, advances to play Serena

Serena Williams had it easy, the beneficiary of Sabine Lisicki’s twisted ankle and broken heart. Samantha Stosur took a much longer path to the Family Circle Cup semifinals.

Serena Williams advanced Friday when Lisicki retired with an ankle injury down 4-1 in the first set.

Stosur, after finishing off Galina Voskoboeva in a weather-suspended match earlier Friday, won a classic three-set grind against fellow former Family Circle Cup champion Venus Williams later in the afternoon, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Stosur will meet Serena Williams in one of Saturday’s semifinals.

The other semifinal will pit the Vera Zvonareva-Lucie Safarova winner against the Nadia Petrova-Polona Hercog winner.

Lisicki, the No. 6 seed and 2009 Family Circle Cup champion, was injured and fell at 1-1 in the first set. She received treatment from a trainer and tried to continue.

Lisicki was nagged by ankle problems for much of 2010, falling to No. 218 in the rankings. She currently is ranked No. 13.

“I just felt it,” Lisicki said of the injury, “so I’ll do an MRI and we’ll see what the doctors say and we’ll go from there.”

No. 8-ranked Serena Williams already had defeated 2011 Family Circle runner-up Elena Vesnina and Mariana Erakovic this week.

“I wasn’t supposed to play in Charleston,” she said. “I decided after (the Australian Open) I wanted to come here and get started early on the clay and I’m so glad I did because … I’m moving better. I’m loving when people do drop shots because I’m thinking, yes, I get to practice. So it’s good.”

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