Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal met in the men's singles final for the third year in succession and did so by dropping just one set between them, the best players in the tournament by a margin wider than a wizard's sleeve.

Not that anyone was complaining after the pair produced an extraordinary contest which achieved the seemingly impossible by bettering the five-set thriller they had fought out 12 months ago.

This time it was Nadal who triumphed, winning the longest men's final in Wimbledon history in four hours and 48 minutes by 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7 as the Centre Court clock showed 9.15pm.

Federer had come back from two sets down and saved two match points in the fourth set tie-break but was ultimately denied a record sixth straight title as Nadal became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.

"It's impossible for me to describe," said the 22-year-old Spaniard. "I'm just very happy. It's unbelievable for me to have the title here at Wimbledon.

"It's a dream. It was the most emotional match I played in, probably the best."

Nadal had earlier ended the challenge of Britain's Andy Murray, ruthlessly exposing a gulf in class with a 6-3 6-2 6-4 quarter-final victory on Centre Court.

It was a crushing disappointment in Murray's first appearance in the last eight of a grand slam, but the 21-year-old could console himself with the brilliant comeback he staged against Richard Gasquet in the fourth round, fighting back from two sets down to win in near darkness at 9.30pm.

In hindsight, the "bulging bicep" celebration might not have been a good idea ahead of a clash with Nadal, the Scot's flesh still paling in comparison - in every sense of the word - with the awesome Spaniard.

A change in the men's champion then, but not in the women's, Venus Williams successfully defending her title against sister Serena in a thunderously competitive, if not classic, final.

But the American's toothy grin was tough to find in the following day's newspapers, which instead were dominated by a British triumph at Wimbledon.

Laura Robson had the Court One crowd and national media in raptures after she won the girls' singles title, the 14-year-old becoming the youngest winner since her idol Martina Hingis in 1994 - the year Robson was born - after dispatching Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand 6-3 3-6 6-1.

Victory was celebrated in a delightfully down-to-earth manner with a visit to a pizza restaurant which had been off limits under her strict training regime, the one disappoinment coming when Marat Safin was unable to escort her to the champions' dinner.

"He sent me a letter," revealed the left-hander, who lives just minutes from the All England Club in SW19. "I've memorised it. It says, 'Sorry I can't come to the ball, but good luck for your final tomorrow.' Then he signed it. It was really nice."

Robson's triumph will likely see her awarded a wild card into the main draw next year, when she could get to test her tongue-in-cheek assertion that she will "take down Venus Williams".

An unlikely scenario of course for the Melbourne-born teenager, especially as no-one else was able to beat the American for the second year in succession, or take a set off her for that matter.

Of course it does help when the likes of second seed Jelena Jankovic and third seed and former champion Maria Sharapova are removed from your half of the draw as the women's competition provided the majority of shocks.

Sharapova was the first to fall, the 2004 winner beaten in straight sets in the second round by fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva, who was then happy to rub salt into the wound by treating her much-publicised outfit - featuring men's shorts - with the same contempt as her game.

"It's very pleasant to beat Maria. Why? I don't like her outfit. Can I put it this way?" said the 20-year-old.

"She experiments, and I give her credit for that. She's brave enough to experiment. Sometimes she has good ones, sometimes not."

Jankovic made it to the fourth round before departing in a huff at being shunted out to Court 18 for her clash with Tamarine Tanasugarn.

"I was almost playing in the parking lot," moaned the Serbian, who must have parked in some strange places in her time if she mistook the grass, spectators and thousands of seats for her local multi-storey.

There were no such complaints from world number one and top seed Ana Ivanovic, the French Open champion beaten 6-1 6-4 by Chinese wild card Zheng Jie in the third round but only after needing the luckiest of net cords to scrape past Nathalie Dechy 6-7 7-6 10-8 in the previous round.

Eventually it came down to a "family decision" between the Williams sisters, and Elena Dementieva's misconstrued implications that the result was pre-determined was thankfully banished by an intense contest.

It would be a brave man who bet against Venus making it a hat-trick next year, but one thing is for certain - the men's final will not finish at 9.15pm in near darkness.

It's time for the roof.