Russian player Maria Sharapova returns the ball to Czech player Petra Kvitova during the women's final at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships at the All England Tennis Club, in southwest London. -AFP Photo

LONDON: Eighth seed Petra Kvitova kept her nerve to outgun and outplay favourite Maria Sharapova and win the Wimbledon singles title for the first time with a convincing 6-3 6-4 victory on Saturday.

The 21-year-old Czech, who reached the semi-finals last year having never previously won a match on grass, served consistently and maintained a barrage of powerful, attacking groundstrokes to become only the third left hander to win the title after Anne Jones and Martina Navratilova.

Kvitova, appearing in her first grand slam final, dropped her serve in a nervous opening game but stormed back immediately and, having deservedly won the set, continued to go for her shots and reaped the dividends.

Sharapova, who won the title as a 17-year-old in 2004, had reached the final without dropping a set but served raggedly and the Russian fifth seed had no answers to the uninhibited approach of her rival, the first Czech to triumph since Jana Novotna in 1998.