The American headed into the contest as favourite, but was hoping to banish memories of her defeat to Kerber in the Australian Open final in January.

Kerber lived with Williams in the opening stages of the match, despite the world number one producing blistering serves to hold with ease.

With the German unable to make inroads on the Williams serve, she came under increasing pressure as the first set wore on.

She eventually faltered and Williams broke to secure the opener 7-5.

The momentum remained with Williams in the second set, although Kerber produced some superb shots to keep her hopes of a comeback alive.

She was rewarded for her persistence by a break point opportunity, only to see the chance snuffed out by another powerful ace from Williams.

As Kerber’s frustration grew, Williams struck to break for a 5-3 lead and successfully held serve to seal a 7-5, 6-3 triumph on Centre Court at the All England Club.

The victory saw Williams draw level with Germany's Graf and she now only trails Australia’s Margaret Court in the all-time list of women’s Grand Slam winners.

Court, however, had won 13 of her 24 titles before tennis become professional in 1968.

After securing her seventh Wimbledon singles title, Serena claimed the women’s doubles title for the sixth time with her sister Venus, with the duo having beaten Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Vyacheslavovna and Hungary’s Timea Babos in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut had earlier claimed a 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 win of Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French men’s doubles final.