World No. 1 Serena Williams is back at the top of her game, capturing the Bank of the West Classic championship in Stanford on Sunday.

Williams overcame a close first set before romping off with the trophy by beating Angelique Kerber 7(7)-6(1) 6-3.

Having skipped last year's event, Williams grabbed her third Stanford crown after winning the tournament in 2011 and 2012.

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Kerber, who was seeded third coming into the tournament, proved hard to break on the first set as she sought control with a commanding 5-2 lead.

Williams saved two set points by breaking Kerber's serve and rallied to end up in a tie-break but the 17-times Grand Slam champion stepped-up to the challenge in the tie-break winning six straight points to take the set 7(7)-6(1).

Considered as one of the hard-hitting ladies' tennis player of all time, Williams continued her dominating serves on the second set, forcing Kerber outside the lines and eventually claiming the crown.

This is Williams' first tournament after conceding a doubles match in the second round of Wimbledon last July 1 due to a "viral illness" and had time to rest during a working vacation recently at Europe.

Williams only dropped one set in the event against Serbian Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals 2-6 6-3 7-5 and getting by easily against German Andrea Petkovic in the semis 7-5 6-0.

Williams will retain her World Ranking position of No. 1 for the 200th week in her professional career. She is currently fifth on the list, nine weeks behind Martina Hingis.

Germany's Stefi Graf is at the top of the list with 377 weeks followed by Martina Navratilova with 332 weeks.

Williams used this tournament in preparation for her title defense at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows slated August 25 in New York. She will also be participating in the Cincinnati Open scheduled next week where she lost last year to defending champion Russian Victoria Azarenka.

TagsAngelique Kerber, dominika cibulkova, Stefi Graf, martina navratilova, U.S. Open, Flushing Meadows