Tennis: Sharapova stuns Serena to win Wimbledon

8.30am

WIMBLEDON - In defiance of menacing, black storm clouds and the most intimidating of champions, a glorious new Wimbledon era dawned on Saturday as 17-year-old Maria Sharapova donned the women's singles crown.

With the poise and grace of a super-model and the punch of a super-heavyweight, the Siberian teenager smashed twice-champion Serena Williams 6-1, 6-4, to become the first Russian to win a singles title at the All England Club.

The youngster could scarcely believe it. Dropping to her knees she held her head in her hands, striking a pose destined to become as iconoclastic as that of another ice-cool Wimbledon blond, Bjorn Borg.

"Oh my God ... it's unreal ... it's unreal," she shrieked, tear tracks streaking her cheeks.

"It's amazing really... it was always my dream but I never in a million years thought this would happen so quickly.

"I didn't think (about winning) but I kept believing in myself... I kept faith. It's just amazing.

"To tell you the truth I don't know what happened in the match, what the tactics were or how I won. I was in my own little world out there."

In only her second visit to Wimbledon, Sharapova became the third youngest champion in the event's 120-year history.

She became the first 13th seed to win the title and only Monica Seles and Tracy Austin had won grand slam titles with less experience of top flight tennis.

Endless as the statistics are, they do not come close to illustrating the youngster's exploits over the last two weeks.

To reach the final was extraordinary in itself. When she lined up opposite Serena Williams -- unbeaten at Wimbledon since 2001 -- nobody could have guessed what would happen.

The two players could hardly be more different. Sharapova is willowy to the point of scrawniness, yet to fill out her 6 ft frame. Her long, blonde hair swings behind her as she scampers around the court dressed in a simple white outfit.


MOTHER TONGUE

Fledgling fashionista Serena would, no doubt, have a term for it -- an LWD perhaps, in a twist on the ubiquitous LBD or Little Black Dress.

Where Sharapova is slight, Serena is a picture of unharnessed power. Her muscular physique is shown off to it's most impressive effect by her complex, self-designed outfits.

Eight centimeters shorter than the Russian, she has a lower center of gravity and uses it well, hammering the ball low from the baseline.

They build them tough in Siberia, though, and despite Sharapova's frail, angelic appearance she has a fierce kick herself and began impressively, clattering groundstrokes away for winners.

She could hardly have been more at home had she been practicing on a local court near her new home in Florida as she peppered Serena's territory with winners.

She streaked into the lead as the Russian element of the crowd roared her on in her mother tongue -- "davaitye, Masha!" Sharapova responded in her adopted Floridian twang -- "C'mon."

She got her first break after 12 minutes for 3-1 and another for 5-1. Serena looked to the heavens for help but could find none.

Scrapping and clawing like a wildcat, Serena fought to stay with Sharapova but the Russian beat her off, clinching the set on her fourth set point.


DARK CLOUDS

For once it was not the screech with which she accompanies each mighty swat of the ball which had the decibel monitors going off the scale but rather the roaring, cheering center court crowd thrilled by Sharapova's tennis.

Even the weather seemed enraptured by her play. The dark clouds which had threatened to wash out the women's final cleared, leaving a patch of blue above Center Court.

Serena needed a slice of luck and in the sixth game she looked to have got it, breaking Sharapova for the only time in the match for a 4-2 lead.

Just as she looked to have turned a corner, if not the tide, Sharapova hit back breaking the champion immediately. A game later she was level.

Sharapova was unstoppable. Serena needed all her grit and heart just to stay in the match. She fought off three break points in the next game before succumbing on her fourth, slipping as she was about to strike the ball and sending a forehand wide.

Moments later the match was finished and along with it the Williams family's stranglehold on grand slam tennis. Serena's defeat leaves the Williams family without a grand slam singles title in the family for the first time since 1998.

"I'm definitely going to triple my efforts, do everything I can to play better next time," the six-times grand slam champion smiled. "I didn't play great and I didn't win. I put a lot of stress on myself. I think I put too much stress on myself going into it."

- REUTERS