Switzerland's Roger Federer poses with the trophy as he celebrates winning the final while Croatia's Marin Cilic poses with his runner up trophy at Wimbledon championships in London, July 16, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

Shaky start

Nerves were apparent for both men as Cilic opened the 131st men's final with a shaky service game.

Federer, who lost serve only four times in the fortnight, saved a break point at 1-2 and in the next game.

At 2-2 Cilic took a tumble to the turf trying to reach a Federer dropshot and followed that with two lame backhands to hand master front-runner Federer control.

Scenting blood, Federer polished off the first set before breaking Cilic to lead 3-0 in the second.

Cilic slumped to his chair, sobbing, as the physio and doctor stood by and for a moment it looked as though the final might end in a retirement for the first time since 1911.

Cheered on by the crowd, Cilic returned to the fray but any sense of a real match had vanished as Federer raced through the rest of the second set.

After treatment on his stinging feet, Cilic at least showed some spirit to detain Federer for 40 minutes in the third set.

But the outcome was never in doubt as the Swiss, eyes narrowing for another batch of records, broke in the seventh game before wrapping up the match with his eighth ace.

Reuters