ESPN Tennis

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Venus Williams failed to reach the quarterfinals in her final tournament before the French Open, losing to Aravane Rezai 6-4, 6-4 at the Istanbul Cup on Wednesday.

Williams has missed much of last year with injury and had been hoping to break into the world's top 16 by the start of the French Open, which starts on Sunday.

The 62nd-ranked Rezai, from France, will play Meghann Shaughnessy in a quarterfinal match.

In other matches, second-seeded Elena Dementieva beat Jelena Kostanic Tosic 6-3, 6-2, and Patty Schnyder beat Vania King 6-4, 6-1.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.