Standing 6'1" in height, Williams was not only a good half-foot taller than her opponent, the lithe American also appeared twice the athlete.

The 22-year-old French woman doesn't immediately strike you as a professional tennis player . . . her chubby figure, for one, doesn't exactly reconcile itself with that of a professional athlete . . . and in that snapshot you got the feeling that if Williams could move Bartoli about the court as often as possible, her pace, power and agility would prove too much for the rank outsider.

Appearances weren't deceiving. While Bartoli displayed all the pluck and courage that comes hand-inhand with innocence and youth, Williams forced her to scurry around the place like a dog chasing a stick and although she made a decent fist of retrieving for the most part, she controlled far too few rallies to trouble the American unduly. In the end, Williams won her fourth Wimbledon's ladies' singles titles in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, and it was as routine a victory as the numbers suggest.

It all started rather ominously, with Williams breaking Bartoli's serve in the second game and while the French women showed great technique and determination to break back four games later, it didn't add up to anything in the grand scheme of things. Williams broke again two games later to not only claim the first set, but to scupper Bartoli's new-found confidence in the process. The second set was as routine as it gets at this level of professional competition.

"I've worked so hard for this." said Williams afterwards. "Nobody except my family and those close to me know what a tough time I've had with injury lately." She wasn't shy about becoming the first female player to take home the same sized cheque as her male counterpart. "It's great to win in this particular year. This parity has been a long time coming."

You could argue long and hard about that particular point but the prize money was the only parity visible in yesterday's one-sided final.

Her podgy stature to one side for a moment, Bartoli's highly unorthodox two-handed grip also appeared to handicap her efforts against a physically imposing player like Venus Williams. The French woman holds her racquet like a workman holds a shovel and while her technique allows her extended control over her shots, it does mean that she doesn't have quite the same reach as a player with a one-handed grip. Like Venus Williams.

Few players, in the women's game or the men's for that matter, have the wingspan of the American and while Bartoli struggled with her return on the run, Williams treated the very same scenario as an attacking opportunity. On countless occasions, the American gave the impression she was struggling to reach the ball before, in the blink of the eye, wrapping her racquet around it and passing her opponent at the net. It was tremendous tennis and you got the sense that far more experienced, opponents would have wilted against her yesterday.

She really was that good, which would have been quite a surprise for anyone who wandered out to watch her matches in the first three rounds on Wimbledon's outside courts. Against Alla Kudryavtseva and Akiko Morigamo in particular, in rounds one and three, Williams looked like a highjumper who had only been introduced to a tennis racquet a few days previous. But after she hung on grimly in both those games, and gradually found the ability to direct her booming forehand between the tramlines, she looked every inch the worldclass player she is.

Bartoli, for one, seemed to agree with that particular view after yesterday's match.

"I may have beaten the World Number 1 (Henin) in the semi-final but I was playing the World Number 1 on grass today, " she offered magnanimously. "It seems impossible to beat her when she plays like this." Bartoli then thanked the SW19 crowd for getting behind her, but one fan conspicuous by his absence was Pierce Brosnan.

The French woman credited her comeback against Henin on Friday to seeing her favourite actor in the Royal Box and she later pleaded on television for the former 007 to come back again for the final. Brosnan, though, had to attend a wedding yesterday and while he did send flowers to her room yesterday morning, Bartoli seemed lost without his presence. The fact is that she probably would have needed James Bond out there on court beside her if she was to beat Williams on yesterday's form.