Serena advances, but No. 2 and 3 seeds fall

   Serena Williams' toughest foe this week might be jet lag.
   Williams still hasn't adjusted to California time after flying from London on Monday, but it hasn't hurt her on the court at Stanford.
   The top seed and defending champion dismissed sixth-seeded Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa 6-4, 6-0 Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic. Williams has lost only seven total games in two matches after receiving a first-round bye.
   Williams woke up at Friday at 1 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep. So she watched several episodes of  "Desperate Housewives."
   "I was wide-awake,” Williams told reporters. “It was like I was still in Europe. So I finished 'Desperate Housewives,' which was amazing. It’s my favorite show ever. I finally got back to sleep around 6. What stinks is I have to go back very soon (for the Olympics), and I’ll have to readjust again. But it’s OK.”

   Meanwhile, the second and third seeds lost at Stanford. No. 2 Marion Bartoli of France fell to No. 5 Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-3, 6-2, and No. 3 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia wilted against No. 9 Sorana Cirstea 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-0. 

   Bartoli, who had never lost a set in three matches against Wickmayer, double-faulted nine times. She won the 2009 Bank of the West Classic, beating Venus Williams in three sets, and lost in the 2008 and 2011 finals.     

   Cibulkova reached the Bank of the West semifinals last year and the quarterfinals in 2008.
   The 6-foot Wickmayer, a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2009 and Bank of the West quarterfinalist in 2010, will face 6-foot-1 CoCo Vandeweghe in today's semis at 1 p.m. Williams and Cirstea will square off at 7 p.m. Both matches will be first-time meetings.
   Vandeweghe, a part-time Sacramento Capital in World TeamTennis from the San Diego area, beat Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 6-4 to reach her first WTA semifinal. Vandeweghe also become the first lucky loser in a Premier semifinal since Samantha Stosur in 2006 at New Haven.  
   "I was pretty mad about losing in the last round in qualifying," said Vandeweghe, who avenged a loss to Radwanska one month ago in the final of a minor-league tournament on grass at Nottingham. "I had the match on my racquet and didn't play well on that day -- of course you can't play well every day. But I seem to be doing a pretty good job of picking myself back up and putting a lot of good matches together these days.
   "I've been putting a lot of hard work in, on and off the court, and I knew it would translate into my matches sometime. And I'm glad it's here in Stanford."
   World TeamTennis in Citrus Heights, Calif. -- The good news for the Capitals is that they won their third straight match Friday night. The bad news is that marquee player Mardy Fish completed his two-match stint with the team.
   Fish, ranked 13th in the world in singles after reaching a career-high No. 7 last August, won both of his sets for the second night in a row as Sacramento routed the Orange County Breakers 24-14 at Sunrise Mall. 
   Ryan Sweeting, ranked No. 116, is scheduled to take over tonight at Orange County (1-2) in his last match of the season for the Capitals (3-1). Sweeting, a 25-year-old American, suffered back spasms in Sacramento's season-opening loss at Boston and missed the Capitals' victory at Philadelphia the following night.
   Sacramento won four of the five sets against Orange County, which received a 5-4 victory in women's doubles from Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Jana Juricova.
   Mark Knowles, 40, and Sacramento-area resident Yasmin Schnack got the Capitals off to a fast start with a 5-0 victory over Travis Parrott and Jana Juricova in mixed doubles. 

   In 2009, Knowles and Groenefeld won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title, and Parrott took the U.S. Open mixed crown with Carly Gullickson. Juricova, a former NCAA singles and doubles champion from Slovakia, completed her eligibility at Cal in May. 

BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC

At Stanford

Singles quarterfinals

   Serena Williams (1), Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., def. Chanelle Scheepers (6), South Africa, 6-4, 6-0.
   Yanina Wickmayer (5), Belgium, def. Marion Bartoli (2), France, 6-3, 6-2.
   Sorana Cirstea (9), Romania, def. Dominika Cibulkova (3), Slovakia, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-0.   CoCo Vandeweghe (USA) d. Urszula Radwanska, Poland, 6-4, 6-4.

Today's schedule 

Stadium (starting at 1 p.m.)

   CoCo Vandeweghe, Rancho Santa Fe, vs. Yanina Wickmayer (5), Belgium.
   Jarmila Gajdosova, Australia, and Vania King (1), Boynton Beach, Fla., vs. Yung-Jan Chan and Hao-Ching Chan (4), Taiwan.
   Serena Williams (1), Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., vs. Sorana Cirstea (9), Romania (not before 7 p.m.).
   Natalie Grandin, South Africa, and Vladimira Uhlirova (3), Czech Republic, vs. Marina Erakovic, New Zealand, and Heather Watson, Great Britain.

WORLD TEAMTENNIS

Capitals 24, Orange County 14

In Citrus Heights, Calif.

   Mixed doubles -- Mark Knowles-Yasmin Schnack (Capitals) def. Travis Parrott-Jana Juricova (Breakers) 5-0.
   Women's doubles -- Anna-Lena Groenefeld-Jana Juricova (Breakers) def. Asia Muhammad-Yasmin Schnack (Capitals) 5-4.
   Men's doubles -- Mardy Fish-Mark Knowles (Capitals) def. Travis Parrott-John-Patrick Smith (Breakers) 5-3.
   Women's singles -- Asia Muhammad (Capitals) def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Breakers) 5-4.
   Men's singles -- Mardy Fish (Capitals) def. John-Patrick Smith (Breakers) 5-2.

WEEKEND TV SCHEDULE

(All times PDT)

   Today -- Newport, Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (Jennifer Capriati, Gustavo Kuerten, Manuel Orantes, Randy Snow and Mike Davies), Tennis Channel, 9:30-10:30 a.m. (live); Newport (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (live); Stanford (women), semifinals, ESPN2, 1-3 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. (live); Stuttgart (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 3-7 p.m. (delay); Bastad (men), semifinals, Tennis Channel, 7-11 p.m. (delay).

   Sunday -- Newport (men), final, Tennis Channel, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (live); Stanford (women), final,  ESPN2, 1-3 p.m. (live); Stuttgart (men), final, Tennis Channel, 1-3 pm. (delay); Bastad (men), final, Tennis Channel, 3-5 p.m. (delay); Umag (men), final, Tennis Channel, 5-7 p.m. (delay); Palermo (women), final, Tennis Channel, 7-9 p.m. (delay).

CALENDAR

   Today -- WTA, Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, semifinals, 1 and 7 p.m. www.bankofthewestclassic.com.
   World TeamTennis, Sacramento Capitals at Orange County, 7 p.m.
   Sunday -- WTA, Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, singles final at 1 p.m., doubles final to follow. www.bankofthewestclassic.com.
   Monday -- Capitals (with Sam Querrey) vs. New York, Sunrise Marketplace Outdoor Pavilion, Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, 7:35 p.m., http://www.saccaps.com/.
   Wednesday -- Capitals at Washington, 4:10 p.m.
   Thursday -- Capitals at Springfield, 5:05 p.m.
   Friday -- Capitals at Kansas City, 5:35 p.m.
   July 22 -- Springfield at Capitals (with Querrey, Vandeweghe), Sunrise Marketplace Outdoor Pavilion, Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, 7:35 p.m., http://www.saccaps.com/.
   July 24 -- Orange County (with Lindsay Davenport) at Capitals (with Kevin Anderson, Vandeweghe), Sunrise Marketplace Outdoor Pavilion, Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, 7:35 p.m., http://www.saccaps.com/.
   July 25 -- Capitals (with Vandeweghe) at Orange County, 7 p.m.
   July 27 -- Philadelphia (with Mark Philippoussis) at Capitals (with Anderson, Vandeweghe), Sunrise Marketplace Outdoor Pavilion, Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, 7:35 p.m., http://www.saccaps.com/.
   July 28 -- Boston at Capitals (with Anderson, Vandeweghe), Sunrise Marketplace Outdoor Pavilion, Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, 7:35 p.m., http://www.saccaps.com/.
   July 28-Aug. 5 -- OLYMPIC TENNIS TOURNAMENT, Wimbledon, www.london2012.com.