MELBOURNE, Australia — Venus Williams followed her sister Serena out of the Australian Open in the quarterfinals, both in losses to Serbian players.

Venus went down 7-6 (3), 6-4 to fourth-seeded Ana Ivanovic this morning, a day after defending champion Serena lost to No. 3 Jelena Jankovic.

Ivanovic, who had never taken a set off Williams in four previous contests, is into the semifinals for the third time at a Grand Slam and next faces first-timer Daniela Hantuchova, who beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-2.

In the other women’s semifinal Jankovic will meet No. 5 Maria Sharapova, who ended top-ranked Justine Henin’s 32-match winning streak 6-4, 6-0.

After four straight losses to Venus Williams, including the semifinals at Wimbledon and the fourth round at the U.S. Open, 20-year-old Ivanovic was thrilled to win.

“It was an amazing match and I’m just thrilled to get through,” the French Open finalist said. “In the last 18 months I’ve come a long way.

“She’s an amazing competitor and she was playing very well today.”

A third Serbian player has a chance of making the semis at Melbourne Park, with men’s No. 3 Novak Djokovic playing David Ferrer of Spain later in the day. Defending champion Roger Federer was to face against No. 12 James Blake in the night match.

Neither Ivanovic nor Williams showed any respect for the other’s serve. There were six consecutive breaks in the first set alone. Shaking her head and sighing, Williams had 21 unforced errors in the first set to just seven winners as she sprayed the ball all over the court.

She won just one of her five service points in the tiebreaker, covering her face with her hand after netting a straightforward backhand volley to give Ivanovic a 5-2 edge.

Williams, her left thigh heavily wrapped almost to her knee, picked up her game dramatically to start the second set, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. She was really pounding the ball, her grunts of exertion sounding nearly like screams.

But it didn’t last as Ivanovic broke back to get on serve. Then, after Williams fended off a break point to take a 4-3 edge, Ivanovic ran off the last three games, rallying from 15-40 as she served for the match.

Sharapova, who struggled with a shoulder problem for most of last season, started returning to her best at the WTA championships in November before losing in three sets to Henin in 3 hours, 24 minutes — among the dozen longest women’s tour matches in the Open era.

“I really felt like I was in a bubble,” No. 5 Sharapova said. “I think it was one of the most consistent matches where I did all the things I wanted to do, and I did them correctly from the beginning to the end ... and just played the way I can play.”

Henin, who struggled with her serve and was broken five times by Sharapova, said she had a minor concern over a lingering knee injury but put the end of her winning streak down as an inevitability.

Sharapova will be looking back for lessons to take into the semis against Jankovic, her old tennis academy pal.

Jankovic has been hampered by a thigh problem.

“I’m like a wounded animal. I still keep going,” she said, adding for emphasis that she had a point to prove following a fourth-round loss to Williams here last year.

“Getting revenge, it feels so good,” Jankovic said.

Second-seeded Rafael Nadal advanced to his first Australian Open semifinal with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 24 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.

“Maybe I wasn’t playing my best tennis today, but it was enough,” the three-time French Open champion said.

He will play 22-year-old Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 6-0, 7-6 (6) late Tuesday.