STANFORD, California (AP)—Serena Williams has captured her first tournament title since returning to tennis, beating Marion Bartoli 7-5, 6-1 to win the Bank of the West Classic on Sunday.

The 13-time major champion overcame two breaks in the first set to rally for a dominating finish. She went ahead 5-0 in the second and never relented.

The victory was even sweeter because the ninth-ranked Bartoli beat the former world No. 1 in straight sets in the fourth round at Wimbledon this year.

The appearance in the final also was the first for Williams since winning at the All England Club in 2010 and her best showing since missing nearly a year because of blood clots in her lungs and two foot operations.

All those worries washed away this week.

Unseeded and ranked 169th, Williams mowed down the competition with relative ease, including a 6-1, 6-3 thumping of Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals. She capped it off with a vintage performance against a well-rested Bartoli, who advanced when Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova withdrew in the other semifinal because of a strained abdominal muscle.

Sporting a long-sleeve green shirt and black skirt, the conservative outfit — by the Williams sisters’ standards, anyway—matched her strategy. She was calm and cool behind Bartoli’s go-for-broke shots and second serve topping 100 mph, having a harder time with the elements.

Williams had struggled serving into the sun on a crisp and clear day at Stanford, even hitting a few serves with a shortened toss and awkward delivery. She was broken in the third game of the match and eventually went down 4-2.

Williams saved two break points and moved back to 4-3, pumping her fist in celebration with a forehand winner. Bartoli broke back and served for the match at 5-4, first requesting a trainer to deal with a blister on her right hand.

After a long rally on set point for Williams, somebody in the crowd yelled “out” while Bartoli returned a ball from the baseline. The French woman kept playing before hitting the next ball into the net to give Williams the set.

Bartoli argued unsuccessfully with the chair umpire to replay the point, and she requested a trainer between sets. She lost her serve in the second game, went down 5-0 and watched as Williams skipped around the court at Taube Tennis Center.

Such a small victory for Williams has never meant so much.

After winning Wimbledon in July 2010, she was out for nearly a year recovering from various health scares. The worst were two foot operations and blood clots in her lungs that left her depressed and “on my deathbed,” as she put it, much less wondering if she could ever play again.

Now Williams is not only back but ready to make a run on the hard-court series this summer and at U.S. Open beginning in late August.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP)—Second-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia beat top-seeded Shahar Peer 7-5, 6-2 to win the inaugural Citi Open on Sunday.

It’s the 10th career WTA title for Petrova and her first since 2008 at Quebec City.

“I’ve been waiting for this patiently,” Petrova said.

Petrova, who has been ranked as high as No. 3 in the world, took advantage of a strong serve to control the match. Petrova won 30 of 36 first point serves and also had seven aces to just one for the Israeli. Peer had five double-faults in the first set.

Peer came in having lost five straight first-round matches, but made it to the finals of a WTA event for the first time since January 2010.

Petrova, ranked 32nd, has defeated No. 24 Peer in all six of their meetings.

UMAG, Croatia (AP)—Aleksandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine captured his first ATP title by defeating home favorite Marin Cilic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the Croatia Open final on Sunday.

Dolgopolov broke Cilic in the opening game of the match and easily held serve throughout the set. The Ukrainian failed to convert two set points on Cilic’s serve at 5-3 before serving it out.

Cilic broke Dolgopolov decisively to lead 5-3 in the second set.

Dolgopolov raced to a 3-0 in the decider but wasted two break points for 4-0, allowing Cilic to rally and level at 3-3. The Ukrainian broke again for a 5-3 lead, and sealed victory with a crosscourt backhand.

GSTAAD, Switzerland (AP)—Marcel Granollers won the Swiss Open for his first title in three years, beating Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on clay Sunday in an all-Spanish final.

The only other time the eighth-seeded Granollers won on the ATP tour was in 2008 in Houston. He is the seventh different Spanish player to win a tournament on the tour this season.

Granollers is ranked 45th and is set to rise above his career-best No. 41 in Monday’s rankings. Verdasco, seeded fourth and ranked No. 20, has not won a tournament this year.

Granollers broke serve in the opening game at Roy Emerson Arena, clinching it on a shot that clipped the net. He kept the lead and on his first chance to take the set he unleashed a serve Verdasco couldn’t return.

Verdasco, a left-hander, broke for the first time to go up 2-0 in the second set and served out the rest of the set. Granollers broke to lead 4-2 in the deciding set on Verdasco’s double-fault. Verdasco had a chance to break back immediately but Granollers saved the game with a drop shot.

Roger Federer has won 13 more Grand Slams than Ryan Harrison has played in, a fact which didn’t stop the 19-year-old American from giving the Swiss tennis great some career advice this week.

Harrison is known for his brash (some would say cocky) attitude on the court. This demeanor sometimes leads to racquet smashing and umpire berating, the former of which occurred during a semifinal loss in Los Angeles on Saturday. When asked about his outbursts, Harrison reminded reporters that Federer used to be known for the same thing during his junior days.

“To be honest with you,” Harrison said “Federer, personally, if he had a little more fire, it would help him get back to the top.”

He makes a fine point. Critics note that Federer has mellowed in recent years and doesn’t seem to live and die with tennis as he once did. Having a wife, twin daughters and a 30th birthday looming will do that to a guy. Maybe if he showed some more passion, he wouldn’t be ceding the limelight to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

Be that as it may, Harrison can’t be the one saying so. He’s 19. He just cracked the top 100 for the first time this week. I have condiments in my fridge that are older than his professional tennis career. What can Ryan Harrison possibly teach to Roger Federer about winning? Paul McCartney may not be writing “Yesterday” anymore but that doesn’t mean he needs songwriting tips from Ke$ha, you know?

I don’t think Harrison meant anything by the remarks and I sort of love his moxie in saying them. We complain that Federer and Djokovic and Nadal don’t say anything interesting in press conferences and then bash Harrison when he does? That’s hypocritical.

Aim lower though, Ryan. Wait until you get to the top 10 to take shots at legends.

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Howdy. It’s a cool, clear, mountain morning here in game-rich Andes. The valleys (they’re called “hollows” or “cloves”) up in these parts are stuffed with fog as thick and dazzling as pure whipped cream. I think that happens when the water temperature in the creeks and rivers is warmer than the air temperature. I’ve been tractor hunting this weekend, as the Orange Blossom (may 1951 Allis-Chalmers WD-45) has earned her retirement. And as I approach mine, I believe I deserve power steering, and a little more time on the deck instead of under machinery.

Not sure you could cook up a more intriguing line-up of finals than we have today – Fish vs. Gulbis, Serena Williams vs. Bartoli, Cilic vs. Dologolopov, and a resurgent Verdasco vs. Granollers in Gstaad. The best way to put this line-up into perspective may bet to attempt to predict the winners. I’d really be curious to see who might pick all four finals correctly. And just so you won’t be bashful, I’ll go with Fish, Serena, the Dog and – as a recent comment poster so aptly described him – the “little tugboat of the Armada,” Marcel Granollers. Hey, let it roll, right?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks.

– Pete

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American Robert Kendrick will appeal his 12-month ban from competition, TENNIS.com has learned. On Friday, the International Tennis Federation suspended him for testing positive for use of the banned stimulant Methylhexaneamine at Roland Garros.

The 31-year-old Kendrick said that he took a capsule of Zija XM3 to combat jetlag, which contains Methylhexaneamine.

The ITF accepted Kendrick’s account that that there was no intent to enhance performance, but said regardless that he is responsible for putting any banned substance in his body.

Kendrick argued for a three-month suspension, but the ITF noted that in Paris, Kendrick did not note that he took the pill when he filled out a form prior to his anti-doping test, which is supposed to detail “any prescription/non-prescription medication or supplements, including vitamins or minerals, taken over the past 7 days.”

The ITF also noted that as a veteran player, Kendrick should have known the rules and took “an inappropriately relaxed approach to his doping responsibilities.”

Kendrick, who recently became a father for the first time, told TENNIS.com that he is huddling with lawyers and would likely release a statement on Monday.

Kendrick’s suspension runs until May 21, 2012.

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STANFORD, Calif. (AP)—Serena Williams, who needed nearly a year to recover from surgery, is putting her best foot forward again and playing like a champion.

Williams moved into the final of the Bank of the West Classic with an impressive 6-1, 6-2 victory over Germany’s Sabine Lisicki on Saturday night.

It’s her first appearance in a final since winning the title at Wimbledon last year and her first final on American soil since losing to Victoria Azarenka in Miami in March of 2009.

The unseeded and 169th-ranked Williams will meet third-seeded and ninth-ranked Marion Bartoli of France, who advanced when Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova withdrew from the other semifinal because of a strained abdominal muscle.

Cibulkova said the injury has been bothering her all week.

“It was painful when I played Marina (Erakovic), but I was able to get through that match,” she said. “I thought it would be better in the morning, but I saw a doctor and he recommended not playing since the injury could worsen.”

Cibulkova had the same problem earlier in the year, missing two tournaments after getting through the quarterfinal at Madrid.

“Maybe I rushed to play too quick,” she said. “I don’t want to make the same mistake.”

Cibulkova still plans to travel to San Diego, where she is scheduled to play Wednesday.

“It’s still open and I’m hoping to be ready,” she said. “I still have things to do in San Diego.”

Cibulkova, playing in her 100th career WTA main draw, is projected to rise from No. 19 to No. 16 in the WTA rankings by reaching the semifinal. She beat qualifier Marina Erakovic 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

“It was a great tournament for me,” Cibulkova said. “I was looking forward to maybe winning my first tournament. I was so full of confidence.”

The ninth-ranked Bartoli reached her fourth final of the year and her third final at Stanford. She won the title in 2009. Bartoli reached the semis when Japan’s Ayumi Morita withdrew with an injury after the first set Friday night.

“This has never happened to me but there’s not much I can do about it,” Bartoli said. “It’s a shame Dominika had to be put out. It will be an extremely tough match tomorrow and I need to get ready.”

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Mardy Fish fought from behind in the third set to advance to his second straight final, beating teenager Ryan Harrison 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 (3) at the Farmers Classic on Saturday.

Fish and Harrison were playing a rematch of their semifinal last week in Atlanta, where Fish won his first title of the season.

The top-seeded Fish defeated Harrison in straight sets in Atlanta and picked up where he left off Saturday, breezing through the opening set in 20 minutes. A frustrated Harrison won only six points.

“That’s probably the cleanest set of tennis I’ve played in a long time,” Fish said.

Harrison responded in the second set and pushed Fish to the brink in the third. Fish regrouped and went up 5-0 in the tiebreaker and won the match with an ace.

“It’s never going to be like that for two sets,” Fish said. “I was playing at an extremely high level. You expect him to bounce back and play better. And he did.”

Fish has won six career titles, but has never reached the final at this tournament. He will play the winner of the second semifinal between Alex Bogomolov Jr. of the U.S. and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia.

The 19-year-old Harrison was trying for his first career final. He is the first American teen to make consecutive semifinals appearances since Andy Roddick in 2002.

Harrison’s current run has pushed him to a career-best 94th in the world. With the loss, he fell to 0-7 when facing top-10 players.

“I don’t feel like I can’t beat (Fish),” Harrison said. “It was a coin-flip there at the end, and he won.”

Harrison showed his emotions in the third set, smashing his racket to the court and bending it in half after Fish broke his serve.

Harrison received a warning from the chair umpire and tossed the mangled racket to a group of kids sitting courtside.

“I’m pretty high-strung. It’s not a secret that I have a lot of energy,” Harrison said. “I got it out of my system. It’s not like it affected my performance.”

Fish wasn’t fazed by the outburst, winning the ensuing game to go up 3-1.

“You sort of want your opponent doing that sort of thing,” he said.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP)—Top-seeded Shahar Peer advanced to the finals at the Citi Open by defeating third-seeded Tamira Paszek of Austria 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in a match that went more than three hours.

In the other semifinal match, second-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia beat American Irina Falconi 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Petrova started slow in the first set after playing past 1 a.m. the night before, but settled down and gained confidence to take a 3-0 lead in the final set after a back-and-forth third game that lasted 15 minutes.

It is the fourth time during the 2011 WTA season that the top two seeds advanced to a finals.

Peer and Petrova have met five previous times with Petrova winning all five times. Petrova will be looking for her 10th career WTA title, while Peer is aiming at her 6th WTA title.