Serena eases past wild card Gibbs

Jul 11, 2012 - 11:56 PM Stanford, CA (Sports Network) - Fresh off her fifth Wimbledon title, Serena Williams eased past wild card Nicole Gibbs on Wednesday at the $740,000 Bank of the West Classic.

The former top-ranked star and reigning Stanford champion needed just 62 minutes to knock off the 19-year-old Gibbs 6-2, 6-1 on the hardcourts at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

Williams beat Marion Bartoli, this week's No. 2 seed, in last year's Stanford final. Bartoli, who won the event in 2009 and was also a runner-up in 2008, will play her second-rounder on Thursday.

Fifth-seeded Yanina Wickmayer and sixth-seeded Chanelle Scheepers were also winners on Wednesday. Wickmayer bounced back from a first set loss to beat Heather Watson 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 and Scheepers took care of wild card Michelle Larcher de Brito 6-3, 6-4.

Former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, seeded fourth this week, was playing the final match Wednesday against Coco Vandeweghe.