Stunning Serena seals 22nd major title

Serena Williams has clinched an incredible 22nd Grand Slam singles title with a magnificent Wimbledon final victory over Angelique Kerber.

In a rematch of their Australian Open final, Williams reversed the result with a 7-5 6-3 victory on Centre Court on Saturday.

Williams broke serve in the eighth game of the second set and served out the match to love before collapsing to the court.

She levels Steffi Graf’s open-era record of 22 major titles.

The legend grows.

Serena is warmly congratulated at the net by Kerber after winning her 22nd Grand Slam title. https://t.co/y4eiNRGvcl

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 9, 2016

“It’s been incredibly difficult not to think about it,” Williams said of the major milestone.

“I had a couple of tries this year, lost to two great opponents – one actually being Angelique.

“It made the victory even sweeter knowing how hard I worked for it. It’s awesome. I’m just so excited.”

In an absorbing contest befitting of a major final, Williams and Kerber went toe-to-toe in a series of punishing rallies that that enthralled the crowd.

Both players held serve for almost the entire first set before the world No.1 broke the deadlock in game 12, breaking Kerber to take it 7-5.

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The level of tennis went up in the second set, with some highlight reel-worthy points playing out.

Perhaps the best of those was a rapid-fire volley exchange in the eighth game, which Kerber came out on top of.

A game earlier, Kerber held her one and only break point of the match, which Williams saved with an ace. She followed that up with a second straight ace at 200km/h.

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Later in the eighth game, Kerber cracked.

Leading 40-15, a few errors handed Williams the break. With a 5-3 lead in hand, Williams found herself serving for title number seven at the All England Club.

What had been a torrid battle and tough to call was suddenly over; Williams won four straight points, sealing victory with a winning volley.

Williams’ serve was the difference; she fired 13 aces and won an incredible 88 per cent of first serve points.

She pockets £2,000,000.