Jana Novotna beat Venus Williams in a contentious quarterfinal match. (AP)

WIMBLEDON, England, July 1 — Venus Williams went down screaming and glaring — and, at one point, crying — on Centre Court at the All England club this afternoon. Monica Seles was quieter, calmly bowing her head. And Lindsay Davenport hustled away from Wimbledon so quickly and meekly it seemed as if she had planned to be elsewhere all along.

That dark cloud that moved across the All England club today had nothing to do with Wimbledon's usually weepy weather — it was, instead, the result of a trio of results that left the once-glamorous women's draw minus a good dose of its flash. Seles, the clear crowd favorite, was beaten 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 by unseeded Natasha Zvereva — the woman who banished the beloved Steffi Graf five days earlier. Davenport, the second seed and second-ranked player in the world, collapsed at the hands of No. 16 Nathalie Tauziat, who seemed to need little effort to win, 6-3, 6-3.

And 18-year-old Williams — whose striking physique, clinking beads and outgoing personality have made her a tennis sensation — failed in her memorable attempt to bounce No. 3 Jana Novotna. Novotna won that quarterfinal, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2), after watching Williams stare down one lineswoman, berate another official and share a few unhappy words with the chair umpire.

When the day was over, Wimbledon found itself with a diverse quartet of women's semifinalists scheduled to battle on Centre Court on Thursday.

One semifinal is a reprise of last year's title match, pitting No. 1 Martina Hingis — who avoided upset fever with her 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over No. 5 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario — against Novotna, whose most memorable Wimbledon moment remains the day she fall apart in the 1993 final and cried on the Duchess of Kent's shoulder. The other semifinal features Zvereva and Tauziat, two relative unknowns who have unexpectedly bloomed in a field full of big names and colorful personalities.

"It's really, it's really . . . hmmm, in a nice way?" Novotna said, when asked for her reaction to the semifinal field. "It definitely was very surprising."

Novotna did not count herself among the surprises — she meant Zvereva and Tauziat — but Williams certainly did. Having announced that she planned to win Wimbledon this year — "I guess that's how young American kids are brought up these days," Novotna said, in reference to Williams's self-confidence — Williams was frustrated by the way in which her grand plan dissolved on Centre Court today.

Give Williams this: Her match was a far cry from the two disappointing duels that played out on Court 1, where both Seles and Davenport ended forceful Wimbledon runs with the meekest of whimpers. Playing her first singles match on Centre Court, Williams lost the first set despite holding a 4-1 lead at one point. Then she erupted in the second.

Her first outburst came in the first game, when a questionable call prompted her to stare down a lineswoman — her 6-foot-2 frame hovering over the seated woman — then shout, "You've got to call 'em!" at the top of her lungs.

Williams became more demonstrative in the seventh game. After losing another point on a call she disliked, Williams went to the chair umpire and launched another tirade.

"I know it's out!" she screamed. Then she turned and pointed to Novotna.

"She knows it out!"

Then pointed around at the crowd.

"Everyone knows it's out!" she screamed, the crowd applauding their support of her opinion, "but you don't know it's out!"

Asked later about her behavior, Williams said that she brought entertainment to the game.

"I think that the crowd probably enjoyed my emotional outbursts," she said. "I guess someone would turn the channel and suddenly see some girl screaming and they'd keep it here, because I know I would. It probably brightened up someone's day."

It didn't brighten her own. After the call stood, pushing Williams to break point, she went back to the baseline and double-faulted. Then, deflated, she walked to her chair on the changeover, threw down her racket, snatched up her towel and sat down as tears welled up in her eyes.

And though Williams argued later that her anger and frustration made her more driven, she clearly fell apart in the tiebreaker, losing the final three points on poorly hit forehands.

"I made Venus desperate at times," Novotna said. "I think in every match there are some things that you are not happy with . . . but you have to keep focus. I think she lost it a little bit there for a while."

Williams's departure made Hingis, 17, the lone teenager left in a draw that had been filled with adolescent hopefuls at the start of this tournament 10 days ago. With Novotna nearing 30, Tauziat already 30 and Zvereva 27, it appears this Wimbledon belongs to the long-suffering rather than the young guns. None of the three has won a Grand Slam singles title.

"Well, I thought I had a good shot to win the first round, but, you know, that's about all I thought," said Zvereva, whose win over Graf was such a stunner she had to crawl into her locker room stall to escape the congratulatory pats on the back. "I am absolutely thrilled. It's a complete stunner. [Tauziat] probably feels the same way."