to the Center Court to face American James Blake of the USA. Federer, who lost in the finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon earlier this summer, continued his string of less than par play as Blake turned in one of his best performances to win 6-4, 7-6(7-2).
In set one Blake broke serve at 5-4 as Federer netted a backhand. Federer fell behind 3-0 in the final set before holding serve to reach six all. In the tiebreaker more errors from Federer and consistent groundstrokes from Blake sealed the match.
Meanwhile on Court 1 Serena Williams raced to a 4-1 lead in set one before getting loured into playing too much topspin and errors to lose to Elena Dementieva of Russia 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Williams hit a forehand long before doublefaulting on set point in set two to drop the set.
In set three Williams turned in errors and was outhit on several points to trail 0-5. Williams then cleaned up her game with aggressive play to reach 3-5 winning three games in a row and saving matchpoint. In the final game of the match however Williams committed three goundstroke errors before hitting a backhand volley wide on matchpoint.
Not long afterwards 2000 gold medalist Venus Williams, the last of the three major upset victims of the day, also took an early lead in her quarterfinal going ahead 4-1 in set one versus Li Na of China. Williams would then commit several doublefaults and errors however much to the delight of the Beijing crowd who were told by the chair umpire, “ladies and gentlemen in the spirit of the Olympic Games please do not applaud errors made by the opponent."
A Williams doublefault and an ill-advised inside out forehand which Na hit for a backhand down the line winner set up a break of service which put Na up 6-5 in set one. Williams dropped the set 7-5 and was broken again to fall behind 0-1 in set two following her 12th doublefault. Leads of 4-3 and 5-4 did not matter in the end as Williams' forehand and serve errors were unable to counter the angles and counterpunching of Na as she took the match 7-5, 7-5 minutes before midnight Beijing time.
A doubles medal for the Williams sisters could be a consolation as they remain in the doubles draw.
