2012 Bank Of The West Classic: Serena Williams Goes Back-To Back

Serena Williams didn't waste any time in her turnaround from another major trophy. After earning yet another Wimbledon crown in London, Serena flew all the way to Palo Alto and defended her Bank of the West Classic title on the Stanford campus. It's her 43rd WTA title.

Serena didn't have an easy go of it against heavy underdog Coco Vandeweghe. Vandeweghe actually had an early lead in the first set at 5-3 and actually had a chance to serve for the set. Williams held though, Vandeweghe got broken on a double fault, and she'd lose the next three points en route to a 7-5 first set loss. From that point Williams was in control, winning the second set 6-3.

Williams now will turn around and head back across the Atlantic, as she'll be competing for the United States in the 2012 Olympics in London. The grounds she'll be competing on? Wimbledon once again. It's looking like this could shape up to be one heck of a month of football for one of the greatest female tennis players ever.

Williams will take home most of the $740,000 tournament purse.

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2012 Bank Of The West Classic: Serena Williams Looks To Repeat In Sunday's Finals

The first event in the WTA U.S. Open Series is heading into its final day on Sunday. The championship match of the 2012 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford will feature the defending champion and No. 1 seed against an unseeded opponent and fellow U.S. player as Serena Williams gets ready to face off against Coco Vandeweghe.

Williams had little trouble in her semifinals match against No. 9 seed Sorana Cirstea, while Vandeweghe bested No. 5 seed Yanina Wickmayer in three sets to make it to the finals.

Williams, who is fresh off of winning her fifth Wimbledon championship, will be looking to win back-to-back titles at the Bank of the West Classic.

The championship match will take place in the Stanford stadium court and will begin at 1:00 p.m. PT. The match will be televised nationally on ESPN 2.

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Bank Of The West Classic 2012: Serena Williams Advances To Finals Against Coco Vandeweghe

After play at Stanford on Saturday, the final has been set for the 2012 Bank of the West Classic. Defending champion and newly-crowned Wimbledon winner Serena Williams has made it all the way to the final match of the first tournament in the U.S. Women's Open Series.

As Williams attempts to win back-to-back titles at the WTA event, she will face fellow American Coco Vandeweghe, who advanced earlier in the day by upending No. 5 seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium in three sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

In the final match of the day on Saturday evening, Williams had little trouble dispatching of No. 9 seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania, barely breaking a sweat while winning in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.

The tournament will wrap up on Sunday with the final between Williams and Vandeweghe. Williams looks poised to repeat, but the unseeded Vandeweghe could end up shocking the top seed in the event.

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2012 Bank Of The West Classic: Serena Williams Faces Scheepers In Quarterfinals

Serena Williams headlines Friday's four quarterfinal matches taking place at the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford University. The reigning Wimbledon champion takes on Chanelle Scheepers [6] of South Africa in Friday's fourth and final match.

Scheepers has just one WTA title under her belt and is the huge underdog against Williams. Friday's match against Williams will be Scheepers' first Premier-level quarterfinal.

Here are the other three matches scheduled for Friday:

• Urszula Radwanska (Poland) vs. Coco Vandeweghe (USA)
• Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) [5] vs Marion Bartoli (France) [2]
• Dominika Cibulkova (Czechoslovakia) [3] or [Q] Erika SEMA (Japan) vs Sorana Cirstea(Romania) [9]
• Serena Williams (USA) [1] vs Chanelle Scheepers (South Africa) [6]

Bank Of The West Classic 2012: Bartoli Beats Stanford's Burdette In Straight Sets

Second round matches continued on Thursday at the Bank of the West Classic at the Taube Family Tennis Center on Stanford University's campus.

Sorana Cirstea (Romania) beat China's Saisai Zheng in straight sets with a pair of 6-3 wins. Poland's Urszula Radwanska beat Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) by a tune of 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. In Thursday's final single match, the second seeded Marion Bartoli from France, bested the U.S.'s Mallory Burdette in straight sets; 7-5, 6-0.

Burdette, a rising senior at Stanford was an all-american in both singles and doubles this past season earned the praise from the No. 10 ranked player in the world, "She had a good spirit on the court. She was still fighting in the second set. She hits well from both sides," Bartoli said in a press conference after the match.

Quarterfinal play begins on Friday. Television coverage of the event can be found on either ESPN2 or the Tennis Channel.

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2012 Bank Of The West Classic: Serena Williams Enjoys Day Off

Serena Williams breezed through her second round matchup with Nicole Gibbs, meaning she'll be able to spend Thursday relaxing before awaiting her quarterfinal match with Chanelle Scheepers.

Thursday is all about second round action, and there will be plenty of matchups going on. Here's the schedule of singles matchups in order.

• Saisai Zheng of China faces off with Sorana Cirstea of Romania to lead things off.
  
• Eighth-seeded Marina Erakovic of New Zealand battles Urszula Radwanska of Poland.
• Mallory Burdette of the USA battles second-seeded Marion Bartoli of France, who enjoyed a first-round bye.
• Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia faces off with Erika Sema of Japan in the night matchup.

Also, Jim Courier and Pete Sampras will face each other in a men's legends matchup during the night set before the Cibulkova-Sema matchup takes place. All of these take place at the Stanford University Taube Family Tennis Stadium in Palo Alto, California on the Stanford campus.

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2012 Bank Of The West Classic, Day 3 Results: Serena Williams Cruises Past Stanford's Nicole Gibbs

2012 Wimbledon singles champion and defending Bank of the West Classic champion Serena Williams finally took to the court Wednesday after a first-round bye at 2012 Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, CA.

Stanford's very own Nicole Gibbs got the honor of facing Serena fresh off of her victory at the All England Club. Unfortunately for the junior she was handled with ease in straight sets by the tune of 6-2. 6-1.

Gibbs was just two years old when Williams, a 14-time major champion, turned professional in 1995. Not exactly a fair fight. Nevertheless, Gibbs was the NCAA singles and doubles champion this spring, and is fresh off a victory at a $50,000 ITF event in Denver herself.

In other matches today Germany's Yanina Wickmaker fought back to take out Great Britain's Heather Watson 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 while South Africa's Chanelle Scheepers took out Portugal's Michelle Larcher de Brito in straight sets with a 6-3, 6-4 win.

New york native Coco Vandeweghe takes on Serbia's Jelena Jankovic in the final match of Day 3 at 5:00 p.m. PT.

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2012 Bank Of The West Classic: Serena Williams Enjoys First-Round Bye

Serena Williams has a first-round bye in the 2012 edition of the Bank of the West Classic.