Serena Williams says she is not feeling overburdened by the weight of history despite missing another chance to win a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title.

The 37-year-old American was outplayed by Romania's Simona Halep, who won her first Wimbledon title in a 6-2 6-2 win.

Defeat means Williams has now lost three Slam finals in the past year.

"Someone told me I shouldn't look at the records, I should just focus on my game. That's what I've been doing since I got to 18," she said.

Williams' last major title came at the 2017 Australian Open - when she was eight weeks pregnant - and moved her within one more of Margaret Court's all-time record.

Williams took a year off the tour as she gave birth to her daughter Olympia in September 2017, returning to the sport six months later.

She has lost to Germany's Angelique Kerber in last year's Wimbledon final and then Japan's Naomi Osaka in a controversial US Open final where an extraordinary outburst saw her call umpire Carlos Ramos a "thief" and a "liar".

This latest defeat - against an inspired Halep, who chased down everything Williams threw at her - came after a frustrating year in which she has been hampered by a knee injury.

"It seems like every Grand Slam final I'm in recently it has been an unbelievable effort to get there," she said.

"It would be interesting to see how it would be under different circumstances."

Williams is already the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam title - her victory in Melbourne two years ago coming aged 35 years and 125 days - and she does not think her age is a barrier to clinching that elusive 24th.

"I feel like I'm still incredibly competitive or else I wouldn't really be out here," she said.

"For the most part, I feel like I'm on the right track. I'm just going in the right direction in terms of getting back to where I need to be."

Two-time Grand Slam champion Tracy Austin suggested the weight of Williams matching Court's record might be "getting into her head".

"I just have to figure out a way to win a final," Williams said.

"Maybe playing other finals outside of Grand Slams would be really helpful just to get in the groove so by the time I get to a Grand Slam final I'm used to what to do and how to play."

Lack of match practice hampered Williams - Navratilova

Williams had only played five tournaments this year going into Wimbledon, pulling out of Miami and Rome because of a troublesome knee injury.

The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion breezed into the final here, dropping just two sets and spending little over eight hours on court.

But she came unstuck against Halep, whose athleticism enabled her to retrieve balls and keep Williams moving.

"That's where match play and fitness comes into play," Martina Navratilova, a nine-time Wimbledon singles champion and BBC Sport analyst, said.

"Serena was out of breath in the longer rallies and she couldn't catch up physically because she hadn't had to move as much before in her previous matches.

"That's why her timing was off because she had to move too much to the ball."

Williams says her knee "feels great" and plans to play events in Toronto and Cincinnati in the hard-court swing which culminates at the US Open in late August/early September.

"With a knee injury you're not able to do an exercise bike or extra running so she did look fatigued against Halep," fellow American Austin added.

"She's happy to be pain-free but I'd like to see her really commit for the next year and play enough tournaments to be match tough enough."

Austin's BBC colleague John McEnroe, a seven-time Grand Slam winner, added: "She has to get herself even fitter because at this level she can be exposed."

'She hasn't played enough quality opposition'

Williams had only won two matches against opponents ranked inside the world's top 50 this year coming into Wimbledon, including a memorable three-set victory over Halep - then ranked as the world's best player - at the Australian Open.

And, seeded 11th at Wimbledon, she reached the final without being tested by anyone of significant calibre.

Her highest-ranked opponent was Germany's world number 17 Julia Gorges, who she beat in straight sets.

"Serena hasn't played top-quality opposition and when she is a little bit off against quality opposition - which happened against Kerber, Osaka and now Halep - the ball is not coming as easy as it does against the other players," Navratilova added.

"Serena doesn't have a Plan B because normally she doesn't need it. She aces her way out of trouble, she powers through people.

"But nothing worked against Halep because the ball came back with interest and she wasn't used to seeing that. She didn't know what to do."

Austin added: "She was trying to draw from her past experiences, trying to hit harder, tried to hit closer to the lines and by the end when she was a set and 4-2 down she looked like she had nothing left to give.

"She had lost her spirit."

Simona Halep says controlling her nerves and forgetting about who she was playing enabled her to play the match of her life and win Wimbledon.

The Romanian's 56-minute 6-2 6-2 demolition of Serena Williams earned her a second Grand Slam title.

"The nerves were positive this time. I felt them in the stomach," she said. "I always play well when I have emotions.

"I didn't think at all against who I play. I've always been intimidated a little bit when I faced Serena."

Williams had been the pre-match favourite to win a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title but could not find an answer to Halep's brilliant returning game and movement around the court.

"I decided before the match that I'm going to focus on myself and on the final of Grand Slam, not on her," said Halep, 27.

"That's why I was able to play my best, to be relaxed, and to be able to be positive and confident against her.

"I'm very sure that was the best match of my life."

Past experience helps Halep to victory

Before winning the French Open in 2018 for her maiden Grand Slam title, Halep had often been viewed as something of a choker having lost in three previous major finals.

But she said those experiences had helped her here - on a surface that, as a player of 1.68m, she never thought she would be able to win on against "all these players that are very tall and serving with a lot of power".

"The finals I lost in the past helped me to be different when I face this moment," she said. "It's never easy to face a Grand Slam final. You can get intimidated by the moment. You can get nervous, too nervous.

"I have learned that it's a normal match, not thinking that much about the trophy, just going there and try to be the best as you can.

"So I did that. I said that every time I would play a final of Grand Slam, I will do exactly the same thing. So today I did it."

A trophy - and a dream membership to club

While Halep fell to her knees to celebrate her win and kissed the trophy repeatedly, she seemed almost as pleased to be wearing a little badge that meant she was now a member of the All England Club.

"It feels good," was the first thing she said when she walked into her news conference pointing at the purple-and-white round badge.

"I wanted this badly. When I started the tournament, I talked to the people from the locker room that my dream is to become a member here. So today it's real and I'm really happy.

"I met [Wimbledon chairman] Philip [Brook]. He told me: 'Any time you want, you can come, have dinner, have lunch, playing a little bit tennis.' I will come for sure."

She was equally thrilled to have delivered on something her mum told her when she was growing up - that if she wanted to do "something really special in tennis" she would need to play in a Wimbledon final.

Watching her daughter do that - and win - her mum Tania had no more words.

"She didn't say anything because she was crying," smiled Halep. "I just hugged her and I kissed her. I knew she's very emotional. I just told her that we'll talk later."

Watch the winning moment as Simona Halep puts in a fantastic performance to beat Serena Williams 6-2 6-2 in 55 minutes to win her first Wimbledon title.

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Simona Halep won her first Wimbledon title and crushed Serena Williams' latest bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam success with a devastating 56-minute display of athleticism.

The Romanian won 6-2 6-2 in front of an incredulous Centre Court, running after everything the American threw at her.

"It was my best match," the 27-year-old said after her second Grand Slam title following her 2018 French Open success.

For 37-year-old Williams, it was a third major final defeat in 12 months.

"She played out of her mind, it was a little bit deer in the headlights for me," she said.

Halep shows no nerves as expectation weighs on Williams

Williams, like in last year's final defeat by Angelique Kerber, seemed weighed down by public and personal expectations as she quickly fell 4-0 behind in the opening set.

Halep had said beforehand that she had no pressure on her and that is exactly how she played.

From the outset she looked relaxed and confident, attacking the Williams serve and keeping the rallies long and deep to force the American into errors.

While Williams closed her eyes at changeovers to try to regroup, Halep kept her eyes on the prize and kept her cool to take the victory on her second match point, when the American sent a forehand into the net.

Halep's level never dropped in an almost perfect display in which she made just three unforced errors to Williams' 26.

"I knew that I have to be aggressive, be 100% for every ball, and that I don't have to let her come back into the match because she's so powerful and so strong," Halep said. "She knows how to manage every moment. So I knew that I have to stay there, which I did pretty well today."

Defeat means Williams' wait for a first Grand Slam title since becoming a mum continues, as does her pursuit of an eighth Wimbledon singles title.

"I definitely knew that she was just playing her heart out," the American said. "I felt like, OK, what do I need to do to get to that level?

"When someone plays lights out, there's really not much you can do. You just have to understand that that was their day today."

Halep sticks to the perfect gameplan

Seventh seed Halep, in her first major final since winning the French Open last year and having lost her world number one ranking, flew under the radar at these championships while much of the focus was on Williams and her record chase.

But she executed the perfect gameplan - stifling Williams' biggest weapon in her serve - and it was credit to her returning ability that Halep restricted the American to just two aces when she had fired 45 during her other matches.

Halep's movement around the court contrasted with a sluggish Williams - who at one point was urged to "wake up" by one shout from the crowd - and her tenacity in the rallies forced the American to overcook her shots through what felt like desperation at times.

A break in the first game set the tone, with Williams firing wide before a Halep hold to love underlined her determination to win. The net helped Halep in the next game, with her shot scraping over but Williams' return bouncing back at the American.

With just 11 minutes on the clock Halep had won the first four games and she barely slowed, facing just one break point - which she saved.

Williams started to get herself a bit more into the match early in the second set but when she came to the net for a volley with the whole court at her disposal and only managed to find the net, giving Halep the break, she must have known it was not going to be her day.

Halep won the next three games in a row, falling to her knees with her arms raised to the sky in celebration as Centre Court rose to its feet in appreciation of one of the greatest Wimbledon final performances.

The stats around Halep's brilliant victory

Analysis

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller: "At the start of the second set you could see that Simona Halep was still that bit better, actually a lot better. I don't think anyone is going to feel short-changed by the 56 minutes of tennis that they have seen today because they have seen one of the all time great Wimbledon final performances."

Two-time Grand Slam champion Tracy Austin on BBC TV: "Unbelievable tennis from Simona Halep. She put herself in such a bubble mentally and she didn't let herself begin to think about the end of the match. She said this was a chill year. She really took the pressure off herself."

Three-time Wimbledon singles champion John McEnroe: "I'm shocked. She obviously is a tremendous and, at this stage in her career, superior athlete. But I didn't think it would intimidate Serena Williams as much as it did today. Halep completely and thoroughly outplayed her. It wasn't even a match. There's only a handful of times in your life when you feel as though you're in the zone like that and that was one of them."

Nine-time Wimbledon singles champion Martina Navratilova: "I think it's essential for Serena Williams to play more matches. You can't fake it. You need those matches. History can get in the way, and it can get difficult to get rid of those nerves."

England's men advanced to the quarter-finals of the Olympic qualifying Sevens tournament in France.

They began with a 40-0 win over Lithuania and then came from 5-0 down at half-time to beat Georgia 24-5.

A 33-7 win over Germany ensured they topped Pool C and set up a quarter-final with Italy on Sunday.

In the women's event in Kazan, England lost 26-5 to Russia in their final match to finish second in Pool B and they face Ireland in the quarter-final.

England are hoping to secure Olympic qualification on behalf of Great Britain with the winners of the two tournaments qualifying directly for next year's Games in Tokyo.

The teams ranked second and third will be put through to participate in the world repechage tournament organised by World Rugby.

After thrashing Lithuania, the men's team had a scare as they had to overturn a half-time deficit against Georgia.

Dan Norton, who scored four tries on the day, got England back into the match, before Harry Glover added a second and Charlton Kerr's two late scores sealed victory.

The women's team scored 17 tries in registering 109 unanswered points in their opening matches but then struggled against Russia.

Trailing 19-0 going into the second half, they saw Deborah Fleming cross in the corner to reduce the deficit but the hosts added a late try under the posts to secure the victory.

SILVERSTONE, England – Valtteri Bottas captured the pole for the British Grand Prix during Formula One qualifying on Saturday at the historic Silverstone Circuit.

Bottas turned a lap of 1:25.093 in the third and final knockout round to edge his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, for the top spot on the grid by .006 seconds.

Saturday marked Bottas’ 10th career F-1 pole, his fourth of the season and first at Silverstone.

“When I got the radio call that I qualified on pole, I was just really happy. I’ve been missing this feeling,” said Bottas. “It’s very difficult to beat Lewis here; he’s always very strong in Silverstone. My lap wasn’t perfect. There was still some margin left to improve, but no one got a perfect lap together, so it was enough in the end.

“I now have to make good use of the pole; Lewis’ race pace has been really strong this year, so I’m sure it’ll be a good fight tomorrow,” he added. “Charles (Leclerc) will also be a threat, especially in the beginning of the race because he’s starting on the softer tires. We are starting on the mediums, which will make the start tricky, but should be the better choice in the long run.

“I’m looking forward to the race; it should be good fun.”

Hamilton will join Bottas on the front row after his lap of 1:25.099, followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was just .079 of a second adrift in the third position.

The Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly qualified fourth and fifth, respectively, ahead of the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo emerged as best of the rest outside the top three teams, seeing off the challenge of impressive British-born rookies Lando Norris and Alex Albon, who were eighth and ninth for McLaren and Toro Rosso respectively.

The second Renault of Nico Hulkenberg capped off the top 10 in qualifying.