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Serena Williams returns the ball against Michelle Larcher de... (Nhat V. Meyer / Mercury News)

Bay Area tennis fans waited years for Serena Williams to make her Bank of the West Classic debut. Wednesday night, they got more of a show than any of them expected.

Michelle Larcher de Brito, a 15-year-old qualifier from Portugal, pushed the eight-time Grand Slam champion from start to finish in a surprisingly tense match at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium. But Williams overcame her young opponent's quickness and deceptive power to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Williams, the tournament's top seed, will play No. 5 seed Patty Schnyder or Alisa Kleybanova in Friday's quarterfinals.

"I never underestimate anyone, especially when they play me," Williams said after the 1-hour, 46-minute match. "It's like they always want to bring out their best game. In a way it was surprising. But you've just got to deal with it."

The level of play hardly resembled a midweek match. With the players' shrieks and grunts echoing throughout the stadium, the crowd of 2,628 rose to its feet when Williams ended a lengthy rally late in the third set with an amazing forehand winner.

Larcher de Brito had just chased down a shot and appeared to have saved a break point. But Williams, 26, ran the ball down and ripped a winner to the open court. That break point gave Williams a 4-2 lead. She held serve the next game and then closed out the match with another break.

"She's Serena Williams; I had nothing to lose," said Larcher de Brito, who is 8-8 this year and 19-16 as

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a pro. "I really don't think she expected me to play that well. I was having fun. I was enjoying it."

Williams finished with 14 aces and one double fault. Though Larcher de Brito displayed effective power from the baseline, she wasn't quite as strong with her serve. She had only one ace and six double faults.

Williams was playing her first WTA tour match since she lost to sister Venus in the Wimbledon final July 5. It was supposed to be easy, given that Williams is ranked fifth in the world and Larcher de Brito is No. 226.

But Larcher de Brito quickly is showing that she could be a future star. Last year in Miami, she became the seventh-youngest player to win a singles match in a main draw when she defeated Meghann Shaughnessy.

This week, Larcher de Brito had to win three qualifying matches and an opening-round match for an opportunity to face Williams.

"If she plays the way she plays against me, she'll be a great player," Williams said.

It was obvious from the outset that intimidation would play no role in this match. Chasing down one shot after another, Larcher de Brito broke Williams' serve three times to win the opening set.

Williams seemed in command of the first set when she won four consecutive games after losing the first two. But Larcher de Brito won the next four and then opened the second set by winning the first two.

"I started off really well," Larcher de Brito said. "I think I played pretty good throughout the whole match. But I just slowed down a little bit."

On the verge of one of the biggest upsets of the year, Williams got back on serve in the third game of the second set and took the lead with another break in the seventh game.

"It was definitely encouraging to know that I can bounce back," Williams said. "I haven't been down a set in a while. It's the type of practice I need."

Earlier in the day, Daniela Hantuchova became the third seeded player to lose this week, falling to Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-1.

No. 2 seed Anna Chakvetadze, the tournament's defending champion, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Shahar Peer.