WASHINGTON, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Second seed Maria Sharapova of Russia was beaten by American Serena Williams in the quarterfinals of the Family Circle Cup 7-5, 4-6 and 6-1 in Charleston, South Carolina on Friday.

    The Russian, who won only nine of 35 points in a final set, lost to the American for the fifth time in their seven career matches.

    Williams, seeded fifth, made 11 aces during the two-hour 30-minute affair to set up a semifinal clash with France's unseeded Alize Cornet who toppled 10th seed Agnes Szavay of Hungary.

    Both Sharapova and Williams came into the match in form, as the Russian clinched her first clay court title at Amelia Island last week while the American won her last tournament, two weeks ago at Miami.

    Sharapova had a chance to win the first set but failed to take it.

    "If I did take that (first) set point or if I had taken a couple of those important points, I would have won the second and the match would been over in two. That's the way it goes and that's the beauty of tennis."