World No. 1 Novak Djokovic claims the ninth major championship title of his career.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic won a third Wimbledon title and a ninth grand slam crown yesterday, shattering Roger Federer's bid for a record eighth All England Club triumph.

World No. 1 Djokovic won 7-6 (1), 6-7 (10), 6-4, 6-3 adding the Wimbledon title to the Australian Open he captured in January.

A forehand crosscourt winner after two hours and 56 minutes handed Djokovic victory and drew him level on three Wimbledon titles with his coach Boris Becker.

For 33-year-old Federer, it was a bitter end to his bid to become the oldest Wimbledon champion of the Open Era.

The 17-time major winner has now gone three years since his last grand slam triumph.

He remains even with Pete Sampras and 1880s player William Renshaw, who also have seven.

Last year, Djokovic beat Federer in five sets.

The opening two sets yesterday were decided by tiebreaks with Djokovic running away with the first and Federer coming through a marathon second.

Djokovic then broke early in the third and served out comfortably after the players were forced off court following a brief rain delay.

Federer landed the first punch in the first set, breaking the Djokovic serve to love for a 4-2 lead when the world No. 1 netted a straightforward mid-court backhand.

But the second-seeded Swiss's serve, which had been functioning with laser precision throughout the tournament, then faltered allowing Djokovic to break back immediately.

Both players stayed strong to force the tiebreak in which Serb Djokovic raced into a 6-1 lead and closed it out when Federer served his first double fault of the match.

The more Federer tried to get on to the front foot the more Djokovic returned the ball with interest, preventing the Swiss playing the attacking game that had caused Scot Andy Murray headaches in their semifinal.

Federer had two break points in the fifth game of the second set, but the top seed's ability to produce big serves on crucial points kept the Swiss at bay.

Federer's unforced error count continued to mount and another double fault in the 10th game gave Djokovic the first of a series of set points.

The rest came in a tense tiebreak in which Federer hung on bravely before Djokovic wafted a forehand into the net to give the Swiss set point at 11-10 on his own serve and he wrapped it up with a volley.

The third set began with a flurry of break points, Federer saving two in the first game and Djokovic holding from 30-40 in the second before the Serb broke for a 2-1 lead when Federer fired a wild forehand long.

The predicted rain arrived and the players filed off court with Djokovic leading 3-2, returning 15 minutes later to resume battle with neither player troubling the other's serve and the top seed closing out the set with a smash.

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