Serena Williams in cruise mode at Australian Open tennis

Serena Williams suffered a brief lapse in concentration but had enough in her tank to blow away American compatriot Nicole Gibbs in an Australian Open tennis Round 3 match

Serena Williams gave compatriot Nicole Gibbs a lesson in grand slam tennis with a 6-1 6-3 towelling to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open on Saturday. (Follow: Rafael Nadal vs Alexander Zverev live)

Serena Williams of the US shakes hands after winning her women's singles third round match against Nicole Gibbs of the US at the Australian Open on Saturday (REUTERS)

Having passed her earlier tests against more accomplished players, Williams had far too many weapons for the 92nd-ranked Gibbs, who appeared overawed by the occasion on a sun-drenched Rod Laver Arena.

On RLA now #Serena fighting for a place in the 4R #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/HMb4sxOs5r

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2017

Williams suffered a brief lapse when serving for the match at 5-2 and was broken for the first time, but she promptly broke back to close out the one-sided contest in just over an hour.

Williams next faces Czech 16th seed Barbora Strycova for a place in the quarter-finals.