Shrugging off her abrupt exit at last year's Wimbledon, Serena Williams came back with a resounding 7-5 6-2 victory over Czech Karolina Pliskova at the Bank of the West Classics Wednesday.

Williams relied heavily on her powerful serves to oust the Czech in Stanford.

She converted nine aces and connected 27 out of 33 first serves, extending her winning streak there to 10. She won the tournament twice in 2011 and 2012 but skipped last year which was won by Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.

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Williams, the World No. 1, had to brush off cobwebs in the first set as she was pushed to the limits by the 45th ranked Pliskova ending with a tie-break. She gained momentum and delivered furious strokes along the baseline to finally win the set at 7-5.

In the second set, the 17-time grand slam champion Williams was on full-throttle to win it at 6-2, breaking Pliskova's serve three times.

The match lasted 64 minutes and Williams said she saw great improvement to her play.

"I'm on the right path, working on some new things and really excited," said Williams.

Williams advanced to the third round, awaiting the winner of fifth seed Serbian Ana Ivanovic and Canadian Carol Zhao.

In other matches Wednesday, second seed Agnieska Radwanska lost her match against 51st ranked American Varvara Lepchenko in three sets 3-6 ,6-3, and 4-6. Germany's Andrea Petkovic defeated Naomi Osaka of Japan in straight sets 6-2 6-2.

The tournament appears to serve Williams' preparation for her title defense at the U.S. Open slated August 25 in New York.

TagsAgnieska Radwanska, Andrea Petkovic, Ana Ivanovic, Venus Williams, U.S. Open, tennis