Serena Williams' first victory since her return to the WTA tour was an emphatic one, this weekend at the Bank of the West Classic. She put away Marion Bartoli 7-5, 6-1 and exulted on the court. Who could blame her?
After destroying Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-3 in the quarters and pushing aside Sabine Lisicki 6-1, 6-2 in the semi-finals, Bartoli actually pushed her in the first set on Sunday. Serena dished out a bit of payback to Bartoli who defeated her handily in the fourth round at this year's Wimbledon.
In the third tournament since her return to the tour, she needed three sets to win only once and her power and movement were too much for her opponents.
Williams' thrashing of Wimbledon finalist Sharapova, at a sold-out stadium on the campus of Stanford University was due in part to a return to uneven serving on Maria's part.
But it didn't help her that Serena's first serve percentage was off the charts, as it continued to be, particularly yesterday against Bartoli. Serena slammed 11 aces and put her first serve in play 77% of the time.
The 29 year-old Serena won for the first time since the 2010 Wimbledon tournament, after which she dealt with a foot injury. She had two surgeries and developed blood clots in her lung, resulting in an emergency hospital stay, during her time away from the court.
With Williams back now, the women who have been winning in her absence should look at how she tore through this tournament as a portent of things to come.
A few hours south, Ernest Gulbis was a surprise winner in Los Angeles at the Farmer's Classic, over Mardy Fish, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Gulbis, known for his up and down performances was dialed in all week in Los Angeles. With new coach Guillermo Canas on his team it looks like the 22 year-old is making a bid to be a force at this month's U.S. Open.
He had the fresher legs on Sunday against Mardy Fish, who had been taken to 7-6 in the third set in Saturday's semis match against young American Ryan Harrison.
Fish had just come off his second consecutive win at the Atlanta tournament the week prior and the heat in L.A. seemed to be a bit much for him.
Gulbis hadn't won a single match in two months before this week and acknowledged he had lost the ability to believe he could win against top top ranked opponents.
The Olympus U.S. Open Series on the hard courts moves locations this week to Washington, D.C. for the man and Carlsbad, California for the ladies.
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