American tennis star Venus Williams suffered a major blow as she crashed out of the ongoing Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati after slumping to a straight sets defeat at the hands of her fellow countrywoman Madison Keys in the quarter-final clash on Saturday. 


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16th-seed Madison smashed 32 winners while never losing her serve to register a comprehensive 6-2, 6-3 victory over Williams in a one-sided last-eight clash of the women's singles event of this ATP Masters 1000 event that lasted one hour and 17 minutes. 


While Williams committed eight double faults and made 18 unforced errors, Madison smashed five aces and won 78 percent of the points on her first serve. 


Following the win, Madison was quite satisfied with the way she served throughout the match while she was also full of praise for 'returner' Williams. 


"I'm really happy with how well I served. She's a very, very good returner, and being able to, for the most part, have fairly straightforward service games was my favorite part," the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) quoted Madison as saying. 


"I think the biggest thing, after having a couple of tough losses the last tournaments I have played, being able to bounce back, and especially after my first round here, being able to get that win and then just building on that," she added. 


By registering her first win over seven-time major champion Williams in three years, Madison has now set up a semi-final clash against 20-year-old Sofia Kenin of America for the second time in this year.