Serena Williams beat a battling Garbine Muguruza 6-4 6-4 to claim her second ‘Serena Slam’ and win her 21st Grand Slam title in the Wimbledon final on Saturday.
After losing a close first set and battling bravely to come back from 5-1 down in the second, the 21-year-old Spaniard was eventually defeated after one hour and 23 minutes, to leave Williams to receive the acclaim of the Centre Crowd.
At 33 years and 289 days, Serena surpasses Martina Navratilova as the oldest player to win Wimbledon, and any of the other three Grand Slams, in the Open era.
Muguruza, born in Venezuela and raised in Barcelona, had insisted facing Serena was a task to be relished rather than feared.
She was proving true to her bold claim and, by the time Muguruza moved into a 4-2 lead, it seemed an epic shock was on the cards.
However, Serena had recovered from worse predicaments earlier in the tournament.
With the pressure ratcheted up, the inevitable Serena break back arrived in the eighth game when Muguruza missed with a wild forehand.
Williams scented blood and Muguruza crumbled, a double-fault on set point gift-wrapping the lead to Serena in a set that had been the underdog’s for the taking.
The American had won 28 of her last 30 tour-level finals, including her last nine at the majors, and, in her eighth Wimbledon final, she was finally back in that muscular groove.
Serena’s fierce grimace and clenched fist after breaking in the fourth game of the second set suggested the finish line was in sight
But, serving for the match with 5-1 and then 5-3 leads, Williams was gripped by a bad case of nerves and Muguruza broke twice to prolong the contest.
Serena’s sixth Wimbledon crown brought with it a slew of other remarkable landmarks that underline her credentials as one of the greatest female athletes of all time.
The American’s 21st Grand Slam crown and 68th tour-level title earned her a cheque for £1.8 million.
But it is her legacy rather than her bank balance that concerns Williams these days and she now holds all four Grand Slam titles at the same time – the rare ‘Serena Slam’ she last achieved in 2002-03.
Serena is the first woman to land the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back since she last won that difficult double in 2002. Agency report
