STANFORD, Calif. — Serena Williams' busy summer schedule caught up with her, making her the latest U.S. Olympian dealing with a knee injury as the Beijing Games approach.

Williams injured her left knee and pulled out of the Bank of the West Classic yesterday, joining sister Venus and Lindsay Davenport on the injured list.

Williams retired from her match after losing the first set and falling behind in the second set of her semifinal against qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak.

"It was hurting in practice and I didn't really practice too long because it was hurting," Williams said. "After I got off, it was really swollen. I thought that I have to play really fast."

Wozniak will play in today's final against sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli, who beat Ai Sugiyama, 6-3, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

Williams lasted only 46 minutes before pulling out of the match trailing 2-6, 1-3. Williams said the injury is different than one that forced her to undergo surgery on her left knee in 2003 and miss eight months. But that knee has bothered her since, forcing her to drop out of the 2004 Athens Olympics and to miss significant time again in 2006.

Williams had felt healthy most of this year, playing a busy schedule since winning in Miami in the beginning of April. She played 26 matches in a three-month span that went through her loss in the Wimbledon final to big sister, Venus.

Then she returned home and played for the Washington Kastles of the World Team Tennis league before arriving at Stanford for her debut in this tournament. Williams wouldn't blame her decision to play team tennis on her latest setback.

"You know that risk going into it," she said. "It is what it is. I can't blame that. I just think in general I've been playing a lot of tennis since Miami — especially for me."

Venus Williams and Davenport have already pulled out of next week's East West Bank Classic in Carson, Calif., due to right knee injuries. Serena Williams said she still plans to go to Carson, but will likely have an MRI before then and could choose to rest up for the Olympics next month.

"I do plan on obviously being at the Olympics," she said. "That's my main goal."

Williams struggled from the start against the 85th-ranked Wozniak and first called for the trainer when trailing 5-2 in the first set. She got the knee heavily taped and came out to finish the set, but appeared to struggle to plant on her injured leg.

"It's unfortunate that she pulled out," Wozniak said. "I think in the middle of the first set she started looking at her leg. I didn't know if it was her ankle bothering her. But at the end it was her knee."

INDIANAPOLIS TENNIS

TOP-SEEDED BLAKE FALLS TO DEFENDING CHAMP

INDIANAPOLIS — Top-seeded James Blake struggled after a rain delay and was upset by defending champion Dimitry Tursunov, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, yesterday in the semifinals of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships.

Tursunov, the third seed, will meet second-seeded Gilles Simon of France in today's championship match. Simon outlasted fourth-seeded American Sam Querrey, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, in yesterday's other semifinal.

Tursunov was leading Blake 2-1 in the second set when rain forced a 32-minute delay.

"I had time to think about the match, what I had to do. I picked my level up a bit. He dropped his level a little bit," Tursunov said of the delay.

When play resumed, Tursunov focused on just keeping the ball in play. Blake struggled with his serve after the delay.

AUSTRIAN OPEN

MELZER RALLIES INTO FINAL AGAINST DEL POTRO

Jurgen Melzer will play Juan Martin del Potro in the final of the Austrian Open at Kitzbuehel, Austria.

Melzer beat last year's runner-up Potito Starace, 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3, yesterday to reach his first final of the year, and Del Potro beat Victor Hanescu, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

The 19-year-old Del Potro will play his second career final, just one week after the Argentine won his first title in Stuttgart, Germany.

CROATIA OPEN

VERDASCO ON FAST TRACK TO FINAL AGAINST ANDREEV

Top-seeded Fernando Verdasco needed less than an hour to sweep past Fabio Fognini of Italy, 6-1, 6-3, yesterday in the semifinals of the Croatia Open at Umag, Croatia.

In the final, Verdasco will face fourth-seeded Igor Andreev of Russia, who beat Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina, 6-2, 7-6 (2).

Verdasco dominated the seventh-seeded Fognini from the start with the Italian appearing tired after beating five-time defending champion Carlos Moya in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Andreev struggled a bit with Gonzalez — ranked 101st and playing his first ATO semifinals.

Andreev admitted he had "some problems."

"I'm happy I was able to finish the match," he said.

DUTCH OPEN

DEFENDING CHAMPION DARCIS FACES MONTANES

Defending champion Steve Darcis reached his third career ATP Tour final yesterday by beating top-seeded Frenchman Marc Gicquel, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-5, at the Dutch Open in Amersfoort, Netherlands.

He will play fifth-seeded Spaniard Albert Montanes, who beat countryman Oscar Hernandez, 6-1, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

Darcis won his first title in Amersfoort last year before getting a second earlier this year at Memphis.

The 31-year-old Gicquel was seeking his first career title after reaching the final at Den Bosch this year.

GASTEIN LADIES

PARMENTIER SURPRISES TOP-SEEDED SZAVAY

Pauline Parmentier of France will play qualifier Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic in the Gastein Ladies final at Bad Gastein, Austria.

The fourth-seeded Parmentier upset top-seeded Agnes Szavay, 6-4, 6-2, in yesterday's semifinal, while 237th-ranked Hradecka defeated Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine, 6-3, 6-2.

It will be Parmentier's second career final after winning in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, last year, and the first final for the 23-year-old Hradecka, who won 11 titles on the ITF women's circuit but had previously never passed the second round of a WTA Tour event.