Serena stops Venus

But masterful serving and ruthless groundstrokes from her younger sister, Serena, who competed without regard to family ties, had Venus doing just that in yesterday’s all-Williams Wimbledon singles final.

This year it was Serena who raised the prized Venus Rosewater Dish after reducing Venus, a five-time Wimbledon champion, to a tentative, error-prone also-ran.

“It feels so amazing,’’ Serena said after the 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 victory. “I’m so blessed. I can’t believe I’m holding it, and Venus isn’t. She always wins!’’

The match stayed close through the first set, with each holding serve. But after winning the tiebreaker, Serena ramped up her power and precision to close the contest in 87 min utes.

With the victory, Serena, 27, claimed her 11th major title and her third Wimbledon crown.

Roughly three hours later, the sisters returned to Centre Court and teamed up to defend their doubles title, defeating the Australian duo of Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Fittingly, Serena blasted the ace that clinched the victory and ensured that Venus wouldn’t leave Wimbledon this year without a trophy, too.

All told, it was a breathtaking display of one family’s utter dominance of a sport. Serena bowed out having lost only one set through seven rounds of singles competition; Venus lost only two. And in doubles, they never dropped a set.

Serena has now won three of the past four majors (the 2008 US Open and this year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon). But she will still remain No. 2 in the world in the sport’s computer-based rankings, behind Russia’s Dinara Safina, who suffered the most resounding semifinal defeat in Wimbledon’s modern era, 6-1, 6-0, to Venus. Safina, 23, has yet to win a major title.

Asked if she were disappointed by the ranking formula, Serena alternated between sarcasm and gales of laughter. “It is what it is,’’ she said. “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 in the championship match between the sisters, there was no mistaking who was the superior player.

The statistics told the story.

Serena served 12 aces with no double faults. Venus, who boasts the fastest serve in the women’s game, managed just two aces and coughed up three double faults, including one that handed Serena the first break of the match, in the sixth game of the second set.

Serena hit twice as many winners as unforced errors (25 to 12), while Venus’s 14 winners were offset by 18 unforced errors.

There was a palpable difference in the sisters’ on-court presence, with Serena exuding unrelenting ferocity and Venus hanging her head in dejection the longer they played.

With each sister holding serve relatively easily, there was little drama until the eighth game, when Serena faced double break point. That’s when the separation between the two asserted itself, with Serena’s resolve proving unshakable. She fended off both break points (Venus walloped a forehand well beyond the baseline to squander the second) and blasted successive aces to hold.

In the tiebreaker that followed, Venus committed the first error to hand her sister an early break. Serena took a 6-2 lead after yanking Venus corner to corner and then crushed a forehand winner. And she closed the set with a masterful backhand lob that sailed over Venus’s 6-foot-1-inch frame and plopped inside the baseline.

“Today she was too good,’’ said Venus. “She had an answer for everything.’’