You're reading: Tennis-Kvitova beats Sharapova to win Wimbledon title

Czech eighth seed Petra Kvitova kept her nerve to out-gun and out-play favourite Maria Sharapova and win the Wimbledon singles title for the first time with a convincing 6-3 6-4 victory on Saturday.

The 21-year-old, who had not won a match on grass until last year, served consistently and maintained a barrage of powerful, attacking groundstrokes to become only the third left hander to win the women’s title after Anne Jones and Martina Navratilova.

Kvitova, appearing in her first grand slam final, dropped her serve in a nervous opening game but stormed back immediately and, having deservedly won the won the set, continued to go for her shots and reap the dividends.

Sharapova, who won the title as a 17-year-old in 2004, had reached the final without dropping a set but served raggedly and the Russian fifth seed had no answers to the uninhibited approach of her rival, the first Czech to triumph since Jana Novotna in 1998. (Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Pritha Sarkar; to query or comment on this story email