Serena Williams of the US lifts the championship trophy as she celebrates her win over Angelique Kerber of Germany in their ladies' singles final during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, on July 9.

Williams beat her German rival 7-5 6-3 to claim a seventh Wimbledon singles title and equal Steffi Graf's professional era record of 22 grand slam singles crowns on Saturday.

The 34-year-old American edged a high-quality final on a blustery Centre Court as she avenged a surprise loss to Kerber in the final of this year's Australian Open.

Fourth seed Kerber stuck to her guns in a fiercely-fought first set but wavered at 5-6 when a couple of unforced errors gave a fired-up Williams the chance to grab the opener, which she did on her second set point.

World number one Williams faced a moment of danger when Kerber earned a first break point at 3-3 in the second set but she responded by blasting down consecutive aces to stay ahead.

Under severe pressure throughout the contest Kerber crumbled in the next game, skewing a backhand wide to give Williams a 5-3 lead and the chance to serve for the title.

Williams was in no mood to prolong the contest and stormed 40-0 ahead, sealing victory with a volley on her first match point before collapsing backwards joyfully on to the Centre Court turf.-Reuters