Day 12 Round-up Church Road, London Middlesex England

Vera Zvonareva's dream run to the final of Wimbledon was stopped in its tracks by the serene machine that is Serena Williams. After struggling to find her rhythm for the first six games of the tie, the younger member of this millennium's dominant dynasty suddenly clicked into gear, and the match was over as a contest.

Zvonareva had earned a crack at her first ever Grand Slam title by dint of victories over seeds Yanina Wickmayer, Jelena Jankovic and Kim Clijsters, moving her opponents left and right and concluding points with flowing forehands. And for the first half-a-dozen games, it looked as if she might be able to do likewise to the defending champion as Serena hit everything short, riding her luck with net cords and looking out of sorts.

There were already indications of the tide being about to turn, however. Zvonareva was forced to save a first break point when serving at 2-3, and to her credit she did, but Serena was beginning to find her range. She fired down two aces in her next service game, then flicked the turbo switch on and blasted Zvonareva off court with sheer power. The Russian double-faulted as she desperately attempted to push Williams back, and the inevitable break finally came.

Zvonareva again failed to hold at the next time of asking, and suddenly she was a set and a break in arrears. She had lost the first set of her quarter and semi-final matches 6-3, but with all due respect to the inexperienced Tsvetana Pironkova and the returning Kim Clijsters, this was Serena Williams she was facing. The champ had rediscovered her mojo and was hitting the ball with twice the power and crispness of the early exchanges. The Russian gamely returned everything that was fired down at her, so Serena merely chose her moment on every point to wrong-foot Zvonareva, invariably with a sidearm smash into one of the corners.

The Russian attempted to keep pace, but the sheer effort required on every receiving point took its toll and she was broken again midway through the second. Serena meanwhile continued to go about her business quietly and ruthlessly. Some players have "game faces" but Serena has a "final face". Today there were no fist pumps or shouts, merely total focus and concentration until the last point. As yet another clinical smash kicked off the turf and flew into the stands, the champion dropped her racket, arched her back and roared her delight to the skies.

The 6-3, 6-2 scoreline was harsh on Zvonareva, who was gracious in defeat, but it was a true reflection of just how good Serena is when everything clicks. She now has four Wimbledon titles to her name, 13 Grand Slams, 110 weeks at No.1 and 199 wins in Grand Slam tennis - level with her sister. The opening day at the US Open should see some significant double century celebrations…

Three hours later, Zvonareva was back on court in a second attempt at winning some silverware, forming a doubles team with Elena Vesnina. Unlike Serena in 2008 and Venus in 2009 however, the defeated singles finalist could not come up trumps in the women's doubles final. It would have gone some way to rewarding her for her fine tournament, but Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova had clearly not read the script.

The first set between the two unseeded pairings was nip-and-tuck, and the ensuing tie-break was a microcosm thereof. Mini-breaks were exchanged but at 6-6, King and the Kazakh stepped up their game to take the set. This was the signal for all the emotions of the day to finally break through Zvonareva's oft-fragile psyche, and the Russian sobbed openly during the break between sets. Vesnina tried to hold her partner and their game together but it was too much to ask, and the title belonged to Shvedova and King, whose joy at their 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory was a mirror image of the chagrin of their opponents.

The men's doubles also saw maiden Grand Slam champions. In their singles campaigns, Juergen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner were unlucky enough to come up against Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal respectively, but in the doubles, the Bryan twins and the "Belgrade Boys" Nestor and Zimonjic fell by the wayside early in the tournament, leaving the Austrian/German pairing to face fellow Slam final debutants Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau in the title match.

The first set was one-way traffic as Tecau struggled mightily with his service, and the lefty-righty combination of Melzer and Petzschner took the opener 6-1. The second set was much tighter, but again it was the Romanian who blinked first and was broken to 15 in the 12th game. Breaks were exchanged in the final set, but again the 12th game was the crucial one with Lindstedt dropping his serving to love, Petzschner sealing the team's first ever title at a major with an exquisite curling forehand down the line.