Venus, Blake ousted as Europeans dominate

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Europe tightened its stranglehold on the Australian Open when America's sole survivors were blasted out of the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Venus Williams went the way of sister Serena, battered by a Serb baseliner, and James Blake was pulverized by Roger Federer.

Wimbledon champion Venus was swept aside 7-6 6-4 by fourth seed Ana Ivanovic and top seed Federer smashed Blake 7-5 7-6 6-4.

"She played well and hit a lot of good shots... so I give her a lot of credit," the Wimbledon champion said. "I have nobody to blame but myself."

Ivanovic will meet Daniela Hantuchova in the semis after the Slovak pummeled Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 6-2.

Federer reached his 15th straight grand slam semi-final in imperious fashion, smashing Blake off court in a slugging battle.

"He's such a great player and he hits great shots," Federer said graciously.

"It's just great being around in the last weekend of a grand slam. It's a pleasure to play against him.

Following Ivanovic's victory, men's third seed Novak Djokovic made it a super Wednesday for Serbia when he beat Spain's David Ferrer 6-0 6-3 7-5 to seal a spot in the last four.

"This is just a start, hopefully I can go all the way. I have to start believing in myself a bit more," an elated Djokovic said.

It may take more than self-belief given that next up is the magnificent Federer bidding for his 13th grand slam title.

SAME RESULT

Venus had been looking to avenge Serena's quarter-final loss to Serb Jelena Jankovic, but the result was the same as she floundered on a sun-drenched centre court.

The American simply committed too many errors and allowed her 20-year-old opponent to dominate from the baseline.

Ivanovic grabbed her opportunity with both hands.

"It's amazing, it was an amazing match and I'm just so thrilled to be through," Ivanovic beamed in a courtside interview.

"We had a lot of really long points and (Venus) is an amazing competitor."

Venus and Ivanovic took to court after a double-quick opening match between Hantuchova and Radwanska.

FINAL FOUR

Hantuchova, a former quarter-finalist at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and Melbourne Park, made the final four of a grand slam for the first time.

"I think I realized that it's okay to make mistakes and it's okay to not always play my best tennis," the 24-year-old said.

"I always wanted to have everything perfect. I just realized that things are not always going to go your way, and sometimes you have to work for them."

Djokovic survived a late bout of nerves to oust fifth seed Ferrer.

The Serbian wasted four match points and was broken when serving for victory before pulling himself together.

"I even surprised myself the way I played, especially in the first two sets," Djokovic said. "In the end, I was very very nervous, there's no excuse for that, and I was behaving really really badly.

"We all fight to win and sometimes on the court you cannot control your emotions, but I am really happy to be through. It's an amazing feeling."

(Editing by Ed Osmond)