Serena Williams swatted away the feeble challenge of Vera Zvonareva to claim her fourth Wimbledon women's singles title on Centre Court and further enhance her status among the all-time greats.

As fellow champions with 28 All England Club singles titles between them looked on from the Royal Box, Williams sought out the admiring gaze of Billie Jean King, whose total of 12 grand slam crowns she had just surpassed.

"I got you, Billie," a grinning Williams said into the on-court microphone, and such has been Williams' dominance over the past she might well have looked across to Martina Navratilova and added: "I'm coming for you too."

Navratilova's tally of 18 titles, shared with Chris Evert, is next on Williams' hit list and few would bet against her securing it. Perhaps one day even Steffi Graf's mark of 22 will come under threat.

"Of course she's beatable," insisted a defiant Zvonareva, after a 6-3 6-2 humiliation in an hour and seven minutes, which seemed to have been designed to prove anything but.

"She's a human being. She's not a machine."

If not quite super-human, where grass-court tennis is concerned Williams exists in a different orbit to her rivals. Her fourth title provided another masterclass in the power and precision which swept her through another fortnight barely breaking sweat.

"It means a lot because it's 13 and it's cool that I was able to pass Billie," said Williams afterwards. "I'm happy to have got this far and who'd have thought it? It just takes a dream and a little work and effort."

Today that effort proved far too good for Zvonareva, who had excelled in reaching her first grand slam final at the age of 25 and talked ambitiously beforehand of matching Williams' power stroke for stroke.

The reality, from Williams' first service game which she held to love in less than two minutes, was rather different, resulting in the most one-sided final since sister Venus' victory over Marion Bartoli three years ago.

The bad news for Williams' rivals is she believes she can get better still.

"I honestly didn't think I was playing my best," she said. "I felt my strokes were off, especially in the first week.

"I'm just really happy to have got through it. I'm totally human and I just feel like it's not easy to go out there, especially when everyone expects you to win. It's pretty difficult."

Williams fashioned her crucial break in the ninth game of the first set with a slamming forehand drive down the line, a dramatic enough winner that it sent the overwhelming favourite down on one knee with a roar of triumph.

The contest, such as it was, was effectively over after the first game of the second set, when Zvonareva flopped a miserable forehand into the net to hand Williams a break she never looked like relinquishing.

For Zvonareva, it increasingly became less about recovery and more about mere survival. She was almost decapitated by another searing Williams winner as she served out for a 5-1 lead, and the Russian could not prolong the inevitable much longer.

"It was very difficult for me to play my best today because she was better," admitted Zvonareva. "Sometimes I can lose a match and think I did everything, but today I'm disappointed because I think I could have played better tennis.

"I think it was great to be in the final and I think I will realise it later. It was definitely a good experience for me. It's been a great week and hopefully it can help me in the future."

The day, though, was all about Williams, and with a suitably dramatic smash winner on match point, Williams hurled her racket towards the blue sky and saluted her family in the galaxy of champions who looked on admiringly from the Royal Box.

Whether she will one day go on to haul in the likes of Navratilova and Graf appears to be more down to the motivation levels of Williams herself, such is the paucity of available talent to challenge her at the top of the women's game.

For someone who revelled in reaching her 13th title, even shaping the number to her family in the stands upon her moment of triumph, Williams insists securing her place in tennis history remains some way down her list of priorities.

Williams added: "I know Martina and four others are ahead of me. I didn't even know where I was on the list. I don't think about that kind of stuff.

"My thing is I love my dogs, I love my family, I love going to the movies, I love reading, I love going shopping. That's what I think about, not about Serena Williams won X amount of grand slams."

Yet if this most dominant of campaigns proved anything, it is that Williams is destined to be weighed up alongside the greats of history for some time to come. For the time being, at least, she remains utterly out on her own.