Serena Williams outplayed sister Venus to win her third Wimbledon title - then expressed bemusement that winning a third Grand Slam title in 10 months will not be enough to take her to number one in the world.

The 27-year-old added a Wimbledon crown to her recent US Open and Australian Open victories, with a 7-6 (7/3) 6-2 victory on Centre Court taking her Grand Slam tally to 11 titles.

The victory reversed the result from last year but it will still not be enough to take Serena from world number two to number one when the new world rankings are released on Monday.

Dinara Safina, who has lost in each of her three grand slam finals and was beaten 6-1 6-0 by Venus in the semi-finals on Thursday, will stay at the top.

Serena said: "I think if you hold three Grand Slam titles, maybe you should be number one, but not on the WTA Tour obviously.

"My motivation is maybe just to win another grand slam and stay number two, I guess.

"It is what it is. I'd definitely rather be number two and hold three grand slams in the past year than be number one and not have any.

"I see myself as number two. That's where I am. I think Dinara did a great job to get to number one. She won Rome and Madrid.

"I don't know what can be changed. I feel like I've had a pretty consistent year. I don't know what to do to be number one. I don't even care anymore."

Venus was the hot favourite going into the match, being the two-time defending champion and having dropped only 20 games on her march to the final.

But Serena played a brilliant tie-break to end Venus' streak of consecutive sets won at Wimbledon at 34 - stretching back to the third round in 2007 - and then dominated the second set to triumph in an hour and 27 minutes.

"This is one of the few times I didn't expect to come out with the win," continued Serena. "I felt like I had nothing to lose.

"I just wanted to move the ball around better than I did in my past few matches. When I won that first set, I was like, 'Wow, this is great'."

Serena is famous for her fighting spirit and she needed to draw on her reserves in a titanic semi-final against Elena Dementieva, when she saved a match point.

This was not the first time she has won a slam after saving match points during the tournament, and she explained: "I love playing big points and I just love the opportunity to be pressured.

"Billie Jean King wrote once, 'Pressure is a privilege'. Being able to work with her on Fed Cup, just as a person, she's really been able to help me understand that it's a privilege to feel that pressure."

Serena also paid tribute to her sister, who was bidding to equal King's six Wimbledon titles and become the first woman to win three in a row since Steffi Graf from 1991-93.

"She's a great player, especially on this surface, especially out there on that court," added Serena.

"Also she's my sister, someone that I want to see win and do well at all times."

Venus felt the first-set tie-break was the key to the match.

"She played great, especially in the tie-break," said the third seed. "I don't think I did too many things wrong in the tie-break.

"I would play a good shot and she'd just hit a winner off it or put me in a position where she could hit another winner. I played a good tie-break but she played a great one.

"In the second set I guess I had two close service games. I think I lost it from the ground. I had good serves and then from the ground I would rush the shot."

Venus has worn strapping around her left knee since the second round but she insisted that was not a factor in her defeat.

"I have no complaints from the beginning and no complaints now," she continued. "I had a great tournament.

"I came close to winning but it didn't happen, and I can't blame it on anything."

Saturday's match was the sixth time in eight grand slam finals between the pair that Serena has come out on top.

Of her sister's 11 titles, Venus added: "It's a wonderful achievement. She's played so well so many times, a lot of the times actually at my expense.

"We've both always contested each other well, and the best player that day always won."