Safina eventually held her serve in game six but there was not even the merest hint of her making a comeback and Venus closed out for victory in 51 minutes.

FINE TUNING

The governing body of women's tennis recently changed the way it calculated its world rankings, bringing it more in line with the men's game, but the system may still need work.

Venus is ranked at number three in the world, and is seeded three at Wimbledon too, but few would doubt that she is the best there is, at least on grass.

After the match, it was put to Venus that she had "beaten the computer" by overcoming Safina, a world number one who has never won a grand slam title, with such ease.

She accepted that analysis, but said it was too soon to judge the rankings system.

"You know what? I did (beat the computer)," Venus said. "I guess that's a good way of putting it.

"I mean, I'm not the number one seed. I shouldn't be expected, I guess, to win this match. But obviously my record on grass, I think, and my experience, helped me a lot today."

For Safina, it was yet another grand slam disappointment but she defended her number one ranking.

"At the last four Grand Slams I've reached at least the semi-final," she said.

"I think this is the result of how you play the whole year. It's not about one, two tournaments, it's a result of tournament by tournament, day by day."

... contd.