With both Serena and Venus Williams reaching the quarterfinals of the $700,000 Bank of the West Classic on Thursday, Serbia's Jelena Jankovic may have felt a little bit overlooked and left out.

Jankovic, seeded fourth and ranked No. 6, joined the Williams sisters with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Germany's Sabine Lisicki, giving the Stanford event one of its most prestigious quarterfinal matchups.

Wimbledon champion Serena Williams advanced after beating Hungary's Melinda Czink 6-3, 7-6 (7) and Venus Williams got by qualifier Alla Kudryavseva, 6-3, 7-5, setting up an evening showdown with former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova, who continues her comeback from right shoulder surgery.

Eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France advanced with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over qualifier Melanie Oudin and will meet Jankovic.

"There should be a lot of good tennis," Bartoli said. "I always beat Jankovic so who do you think I want to play?"

Jankovic answered back.

"She talks like she's Serena Williams," Jankovic said. "Who is she? She's just another player on the tour."

As for her match, Jankovic had a difficult time in the first set adjusting to the fading light.

"It took me awhile to adjust to the shadows," she said. "I haven't played at night for a while and it was tough to see where the ball was going at times. I felt rusty out there. I need the matches; I need to compete."

Lisicki had seven aces but also committed 11 double faults and managed to put her first serve in play about half the time.

"My philosophy is the more tennis I play the better I play," Jankovic said.

Serena Williams, seeded first and ranked No. 2, has won nine straight matches and 13 of 14 overall. She next plays Australia's Samantha Stosur.

"It should be a good match," Williams said. "She's improved tons; leaps and bounds. I've been a little bit off this whole week. I hope I can get back on."

Williams finished with 10 aces Thursday and brushed past her opponent in the first set. Czink, a left-hander, played a stronger second set in forcing Williams to a tiebreaker in a match that lasted nearly two hours.

"She served well, toward the end especially," Williams said. "I could have returned better, but it was still good practice."

Williams adjusted to a shorter toss on her serve at the beginning of the match because of a bright noon sun.

"It only affected four or five games but those games could be crucial," Williams said. "I made some key errors so it was good I ended up winning."

Venus Williams, seeded second and ranked No. 3, joined her younger sister in the quarterfinals, needing just over an hour to get by Kudryavseva.

"I'm excited. I love playing against her and it's been a while," Sharapova said Wednesday. "It's great to come back and have the chance to play against a great player like Venus, who is at the top of her game right now."

Sharapova has won three of the five previous meetings, the last a three-set win in 2007 at Miami. Williams' only two wins have come at Wimbledon in 2005 and 2007.

"My key is to execute my game as best I can," Williams said. "There's no secret to that. I feel like it will be a good matchup for me. I always enjoy playing against Maria."

Tiger Woods struggled in the first round of the Buick Open, finishing eight strokes behind Steve Lowery.

Woods had poor putting during the first round and it pressured him to score well after finishing in a share of 95th place after 18 holes.

“Didn't hit my irons very good and probably one of the worst putting days I've ever had,” commented the 33-year-old Woods. “Putted good starting out when I was warming up. Got on the greens and it was just terrible.”

Woods missed the cut for the British Open two weeks ago and he has never missed the cut in two consecutive events in his professional career.

However, after four birdies and three bogeys, “Tiger” now needs to fight just to participate in the next weekend of the tournament.

“Obviously I'm not going to get it back in one day,” Woods said. “Guys are going to continue to go low. It's going to be 20-plus (under par) probably to win. So I've got to get it back over the next three days and hopefully I can

“I not only have to play well to make the cut, I've got to play well to get myself back in contention.”

Woods’ misfortunes were met by Lowery’s lucky streak. The 48-year-old tied a course record with 29 on the front nine on his way to the lead at nine-under par 63.

“I putted obviously really well to shoot nine-under,” said Lowery. “But the last nine holes I made all the putts, seven birdies there on the last nine. Some of them were tap-ins, but some of them were pretty good.”
One of the major highlights of the day was Lowery’s 20-foot putt in the eighth hole. 

“Greens are pretty receptive and they have that texture that they're not going to dry out,” commented Lowery. “The ball hits and stays around the pin, and when you putt it, they're at good speed. You felt like you could putt it and if it didn't go in, it wasn't going to go very far by.

Lowery said that he’s happy about his performance in the first round and knows that he needs focus to maintain his lead.