Serena shows sister who's boss

SERENA WILLIAMS walked into the post-match press conference in a T-shirt that rammed home her accomplishments as well as her playfulness. Across the chest was emblazoned the question 'Are you looking at my titles?'

Apparently she had a different one with her just in case she lost, but it wasn't needed, winning 7-6 (7-3), 6-2. She has now won three Wimbledons, holds three of the four grand slam titles.

Twelve months earlier Venus had been too good for her sister but fast forward a year and Serena was just overwhelming. In terms of power, the pace of the serves, the pounding metronomic nature of the groundstrokes – particularly that forehand – and the sheer desire to exit Centre Court as the victor, she was just too much.

But that was no surprise because when Serena puts her mind to it, prepares well and leaves all the mental junk in the locker room, she is more than a match for anyone on the women's tour. Eleven grand slam titles tells everyone that. It also offers an insight into the competitive spirit possessed by the former world No 1.

She often opts to sit out tour events but the majors retain a magnetic pull and no wonder when she can raise her game on such a stage. Winning is what makes her tick.

While Venus had progressed through the previous rounds hardly breaking sweat and without dropping a set, extending her record for consecutive sets won to 34, since her third round match against Akiko Morigami in 2007, Serena had endured a semi-final scrap. She faced a match point in the three-set tussle with the Russian Elena Dementieva and in staving that off and coming through that to win the trophy she became only the second woman in the Open era to rally from match point down to become champion. The other was her sister in 2004.

Nicknamed the 'ghetto Cinderellas of the lily-white tennis world' by their father, who had flown home to America to mow his lawn rather than endure the mixed emotions of seeing his daughters contest yet another duel, they certainly are a fairytale pair. This was their 14th grand slam final, underlining their dominance of the women's game since the turn of the century but the fact their head-to-heads read 10-10 gave an inkling of how little has separated their game.

Yesterday, though, it was Serena's day. She skelped 12 aces past her sister and although Venus had the marginally quicker delivery (an average 111mph first serve compared to her sibling's 109mph) the winner had the better placement. "She played do well and really lifted her game," said the vanquished defending champion. "I had an error here and there and, you know, today I couldn't make errors."

She recorded three double faults on a day when she seemed uncomfortable with her service action, stopping to gather herself countless times mid-motion.

One of those faults came in the opening point of her opening service game but she recovered. It was a different story for the rest of the match with neither player conceding more than a point on their own serve during the next six games and the match went with serve throughout that set, forcing a tie-break in a bid to separate the pair. By then, Serena had already notched up seven aces and she was just as emphatic during the deciding points, winning the tie-break 7-3.

It was the crucial advantage because not only did it give Venus a mountain to climb, it relaxed Serena and reminded her that she could beat her sister on grass. It is a surface the elder sister has shone on. Her grace and pace across the lawn courts an asset and a major contributing factor in her five previous title wins.

"This was one of the few times I didn't expect to come out with the win, but I felt I had nothing to lose," said the second seed and world No 2. "I felt like all I had to do was go out and do my best and just stay in it because she is such a good player but when I won the first set I was like, 'wow, this is great'. I knew no matter what, I was just a set away and I was just trying to relax. "I just wanted to move the ball around better than I did in my past few matches. To me she always seems to get every ball back so I was just thinking about making my shots."

Time and again, whenever the booming serves permitted any kind of rally, she would splay the ball from one side of the court to the other, trying to find angles but more importantly to keep her opponent running and drawing her wider and wider until a big enough gap for her to scorch down a winner presented itself. It was monotonous but it was measured and time and again it succeeded. The decisive break of serve came in the sixth game of the second set, allowing Serena to take a 4-2 lead and she allowed her sister no time to gather her thoughts or reassess her gameplan, following up that break with a service game to love.

It left all the pressure on Venus's shoulders and her serve seemed to crumble, the match veering back and forth to deuce three times before, with the advantage to Serena, she hit her shot into the net and brought her reign as Wimbledon champion to an end. The crown handed over to her sister, the name already etched once more on to the Champions board.

The target now is Billie Jean King's record of 12 grand slam titles. "She is my idol so I would love to reach her level." But she was coy on the idea of targeting Chris Evertt's 18. "Since the beginning of my career I have never said I wanted to chase down records. There are so many tough players, and Venus, so I don't think about that. I'm really excited to have just won Wimbledon. I'm just taking them one at a time."

That may be but they are adding up to an impressive tally. As that number grows, you can bet people are definitely looking at her titles.

MAJOR CHARGE

With 11 grand slams to her name, Serena Williams is seventh on the all-time list of women's major winners and is now the current holder of three of the four titles.

11 GRAND SLAM TITLES: Australian Open 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009 US Open 1999, 2002, 2008 French Open 2002 Wimbledon 2002, 2003, 2009