Perhaps we should be calling her Phoenix Williams. Those long legs, that giant stride and the biggest wingspan in the game, Venus Williams rose up from a match point down in the second set and from coming into the tournament that indicated that her tennis career was not so much on a slide as a tumble, to breathe life back into claims of being among the best in the world.

The 25-year-old's unrestrained celebration on centre court after she had served for the match at 8-7 suggested Williams's airings all through the two weeks that the only pressure in her mind is her own, seemed woefully misplaced or even slightly disingenuous.

Her sustained leaping into the air after match point and the visible relief of the strain lifting from her face brought her almost to a point of collapse.

Williams was contained by the time she entered the post-match conference but by then the shutters had again fallen. She was back with the family line.

"I always felt like a champion in my heart because every single time I stepped on court, I always gave my best," she said. "I didn't really feel I played my best. But I just had to work with what I had today. I just spent so much time behind that the only time I think I was in front was when I won the match."

Despite her claims on the quality, it was one of the best women's finals in memory. Her view that she couldn't raise her level to the standard of a few days previously, was entirely due to Davenport's crisp, clean game preventing her from doing so. It is a constant, irritating mantra from both Venus and her younger sister Serena that whether they win or lose, the result is explained solely as a consequence of how they perform themselves.

Whenever Davenport gets around to watching the tape, she will notice a perceptible drop in level as she pressed for the win. On such margins tight games turn and as Davenport subconsciously but fractionally softened her aggression, Williams fearlessly stepped in to savagely claim the moment.With her big serving game and impossible returns she was able to pull it off.

The 4-6, 7-6, 9-7 defeat of the world number one in two hours 45 minutes was the longest women's final ever played.

Thirty-five years ago Margaret Court's 1970 win over Billy Jean King in two hours 28 minutes formerly held that claim. But there was little sense of fatigue watching it unfold, two service breaks in the first set to Davenport to one for Williams handing the 29-year-old a slim advantage. Davenport had never before beaten Williams on grass and that was to continue but only after an epic fightback.

After receiving treatment for a back injury late in the match and a clearly wrong line call that handed Williams an ace in the fifth game of the second set, Davenport pressed for the championship and even earned match point on her opponent's serve. But after saving a set point at 4-5 down she turned it around but, astonishingly, was broken to love serving for the title, Williams taking the tiebreak and second set.

Early service exchanges in the third set propelled the match forward, neither player wilting but Williams finally earned a service break in the 15th game and found herself serving for the match, a Davenport forehand to the next on championship point giving Williams her third Wimbledon title and the fifth Grand Slam of her career.

"I would play a really good point, have that opportunity and she'd hit a winner," said Davenport. "I felt like when it was close she wasn't giving me any free points and wasn't really missing the forehand. She was really, really tough out there.

"I'm disappointed," she added. "But I don't think I have all that much to be ashamed of."

The two may meet again in six weeks' time at the US Open in Flushing Meadow.

Williams has reclaimed the fire in her game that had been misplaced. Davenport too but with two Grand Slam finals and two defeats this year, maybe for the Californian more has been lost than won.