CHARLESTON, South Carolina - Champion Venus Williams was unceremoniously dumped out of the Family Circle Cup on Thursday, beaten 7-5 6-4 by 17-year-old Tatiana Golovin of France in the third round.

The fourth seed paid the price for an error-laden performance, particularly on her forehand, and Golovin moved through to the quarter-finals and a meeting with seventh seed Nadia Petrova of Russia.

Williams, who had struggled past Denisa Chladkova in her opening match on Wednesday, made an inauspicious start, double-faulting three times in the first game to give 13th seed Golovin the early break.

The American looked back on track when she broke back in the seventh game but Golovin, the world number 25, attacked the Williams forehand and it paid dividends. She broke again to lead 6-5.

She then saved a break point on her own serve to take the opening set.

The second set went with serve until the seventh game when the Williams forehand failed her again, handing Golovin the advantage and the French girl held on to serve out for her biggest win to date.

Earlier, Petrova advanced to the last eight when she beat Croatian Jelena Kostanic 6-3 6-3.

Eighth seed Patty Schnyder continued her smooth progress with a 6-4 6-0 defeat of Klara Koukalova but 11th seed Ai Sugiyama went out, beaten 6-1 4-6 6-1 by Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik.

Later on Thursday, top seed and world number one Lindsay Davenport faces 16-year-old Ukrainian Viktoriya Kutuzova.

Second seed Elena Dementieva of Russia and former world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne will also be bidding for quarter-final places.