Intro:

Despite still battling jet lag just four days after her latest Wimbledon triumph, Serena Williams progressed to the semi-finals of the Stanford Classic in California on Friday.

Williams, the top seed at the tournament, captured a straight forward 6-4, 6-0 win over Chanelle Scheepers in her quarter-final match.

Script:

The Bank of the West Classic continued in sun-kissed California on Friday - with the women's quarter-finals.

Third seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia went into her match as the favourite against Sorana Cirstea of Romania.

But, after dropping the first set 6-7, Cirstea overwhelmed Cibulkova in the second and third sets.

Cirstea wrapped up the final two sets, 6-2 and 6-0, in exactly one hour combined.

Fifth seed Yanina Wickmayer faced second seed Marion Bartoli, in what looked to be a challenging match for the blonde Belgian.

Tied at 3-3 in the first set, Wickmayer won three straight games to take control of the match.

In the second set, Wickmayer built a 3-2 lead and once again locked up the final three games.

It was the first career victory in four attempts for Wickmayer over Bartoli.

She'll now meet American Coco Vandeweghe in the semis.

Just four days - and thousands of miles - since her latest Wimbledon triumph, jet lag and exhaustion were the main obstacles for Serena Williams as she faced Chanelle Scheepers.

Williams trailed briefly at 3-2 in the first set before taking the set 6-4.

She then required only 30 minutes to close out the second set and defeat the sixth seeded South African 6-4, 6-0.

Serena aims to become the first player to win the tournament in consecutive seasons since Kim Clijsters.