STANFORD, CALIF. — Asked if she ever pauses to appreciate all she has accomplished in her trophy-filled career, 17-time Grand Slam champ and world No. 1 Serena Williams admits that it doesn’t happen often enough.

Perhaps she’ll take a moment to reflect on her achievements this week at Stanford, where on Sunday she put the finishing touches on her third straight Bank of the West Classic title via a 7-6(1), 6-3 triumph over No. 3 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany.  The win, which kicks off the Emirates Airline US Open Series, comes only weeks after a mysterious viral illness forced Williams out of the doubles draw at Wimbledon.

“It’s cool,” said Williams.  “I didn’t expect to have three titles here in a row.  It just says something about me and how much I love to play here.  I get a good feeling here.”

The first set was chock full of momentum swings.  After Williams held serve to open the match, Kerber, 26, reeled off five straight games and appeared to be in control of the match.  But her 32-year-old opponent responded with five straight games of her own to surge ahead, 6-5.  Kerber had an opportunity to serve out the set at 5-2, but failed to convert, and once the tiebreak rolled around it was all Williams, who closed out the stanza with a 113 mph ace out wide.

“It wasn’t easy,” said Williams, who has yet to fall to a top-10 foe this season.   “I blinked my eye and I was down 1-5.”

“I was up 5-1, 5-2, but it’s always tough to play against Serena,” explained Kerber, who fell to 0-8 versus No. 1-ranked opponents.  “She started to hit balls on the lines.  It wasn’t easy.  But I gave everything I could today.  She showed that she is a very good champion and the best player in the world right now.”

Williams scored a service break to open the second set against Kerber, who was only hours removed from her tight three-set semifinal win over American Varvara Lepchenko, in which she saved a match point.  Far from a power player, she was under pressure on her serve throughout the one-hour, 19-minute match, especially when she didn’t land her first serve.  The lefthander remains title-less on the year, having come up short in four finals in 2014.

Williams finished with six aces and won 80 percent (28 of 35) of her first-serve points in securing the win, and registered 37 winners to Kerber’s 18. 

“It’s really rewarding,” said Williams after claiming her WTA Tour-best fourth title of the year, one she dedicated to hitting partner Sascha Bajin.  “I’ve been training hard all year.  It feels good.  I’ve got a lot of confidence going.”

She hopes to carry that confidence into the US Open, where she’ll aim for her first major win of the season.

“It would mean a lot to me, but it’s a long ways off,” she said.  “Hopefully, I can do it, but I’m going to have to definitely continue to improve and play better and just do everything I can.  Each match is a match toward that.”

(Photos: Mal Taam for Tennis View)