Garbine Muguruza beats Venus Williams to claim Wimbledon title

Garbine Muguruza beat Venus Williams in straight sets Sunday to claim her second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.

Garbine Muguruza dominated Venus Williams in the Wimbledon final Saturday, winning in straight sets, 7-5, 6-0, to claim her second Grand Slam title.

The first set was a close-fought contest, with both players trading powerful groundstrokes and holding serve until the 11th game, when Muguruza took control.

Muguruza cruised through the second set, breaking Williams in the first game and improving from there. In the end, she had won nine games in a row to close out the match, which ended, somewhat anticlimactically, with a successful challenge. That’s the second major this year, after the men’s Australian Open final, to end in such a way.

But the ending shouldn’t take away from what was an impressive performance by the Spaniard, who at 23 years old is among the most promising stars in the sport. She fought off multiple break points in the first set, but recovered from a slightly shaky start to dominate the second half of the match.

This was her third Grand Slam final and second win, after the French Open in 2016, when she beat Serena Williams in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. The result also vaults her back into the top five of the WTA rankings.

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As for Venus, this was a difficult end to what has been a fabulous tournament, and a fabulous year. She is enjoying something of a renaissance at the age of 37, and has already made two major finals in 2017. She lost the first, in Australia, to her sister Serena.

Venus will take encouragement from her performance, and with Serena out for the rest of the year on maternity leave, she will have another good opportunity to add to her tally of seven major titles at the U.S. Open in September.