Only a woman suitably comfortable with herself and her position in life would celebrate her 11th major singles win while wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Are You Looking At My Titles?” emblazoned in bright red letters across her chest. Serena Williams is such a person.

Her force, power and determination to succeed on the great stages — even if a loved one provides the opposition across the net — have now indisputably distinguished her as the world’s leading women’s tennis player, even if the rankings don’t agree.

For nearly an hour and a half on Centre Court, family ties were put aside, and the fact that Venus was attempting to follow in the footsteps of legendary names such as Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf as only the third woman in the Open era to win the Wimbledon title three times in succession became an irrelevance.

This was not a classic contest, but that doesn’t matter to Serena, whose 7-6 6-2 trouncing of her big sister was an exercise in ruthless physical attrition and affirmation that a powerful, accurate and fully functional serve is the paramount weapon in dry, sun-baked conditions at the All England Club.

Whether this was a portent of what is to come this afternoon, as a potential history-maker was rendered second-best to an opponent who dominated with delivery, will soon be revealed. The simple fact is that Serena was better equipped to capitalise on the conditions, and after admitting her defeat to Venus in last year’s final left her angry, she was desperate to do better this time. “I lost my cool and didn’t perform the way I should have,” she said. “I’m not going to let that happen again.”

And she was true to her word. “I didn’t think about Venus today. I just saw her as an opponent. But I didn’t consider I was keeping her from equalling a record. She’s already a legend. She’s won seven Grand Slams on her own, five being Wimbledon.”

Regardless of the fact that the younger Williams sister has won three of the past four major titles, she will stay behind Dinara Safina, humbled to the point of sheer embarrassment in 51 minutes against Venus in Thursday’s semi-final, when the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings are released tomorrow morning. “If you hold three Grand Slam titles, maybe you should be No 1, but not on the WTA Tour obviously,” Serena said with a grin. “My motivation is maybe just to win another Grand Slam and stay No 2.”

Regathering a modicum of composure, she continued: “No, it doesn’t disappointment me. If it did, I would go crazy just thinking about it. I’d definitely rather be No 2 and hold three Grand Slams in the past year than be No 1 and not have any. But Dinara did a great job to get to No 1, she won Rome and Madrid.”

To say that such things are inconsequential is crass, given the bonuses that come with the No 1 ranking, but the fact is that Serena Williams would be the world’s top-ranked player if she competed in more tournaments. The great imponderable is whether her body would stand up to a more demanding schedule.

Integral to this, her third Wimbledon crown, was her enormous strength. Serena’s serve proved her saving grace in her epic semi-final win against Elena Dementieva. Then she struck 20 aces in three sets after saving a match point. Against Venus, the ace count was only 12, although the sum effect was probably even more demoralising to the opposition.

The two sisters play together nearly every day and have done so for years. There are no secrets they can bring to the match court, no new tactical nuance, nothing that might the other off guard across the net. This is why so many contests between them are not exactly exciting to behold. But something special is required to drive home dominance.

Venus can summon up more velocity on her delivery but Serena is more consistent and accurate. After losing the first set in a tiebreak, Venus’s appetite for the fight seemed to evaporate. The sight of a top-spun lob floating over her head and then dropping inside the baseline by a yard after the ball flipping off the net cord had drawn her to the net drove a spike into her morale.