Wimbledon, England (AHN) - No. 23 seeded Venus Williams became the lowest seeded woman to ever win a Wimbledon crown on Friday when she beat No. 18 seed Marion Bartoli in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1 in a match that lasted just an hour and a half.

Williams, who is ranked No. 31 in the world, and Bartoli, who was ranked No. 20, were the lowest ranked females to play in a final since the rankings were introduced in 1975.

The American won her fourth Wimbledon title and her sixth grand slam overall thanks to her 29 winners and one ace. She broke the Frenchwoman four times in 10 opportunities and breezed past Bartoli in the second set, allowing her to capture just one game. Williams' serve topped out at 125 mph on Friday.

Williams, who also won at the All England Club in 2000, 2001 and 2005, is just the fourth women's player in the Open era to win Wimbledon four times, joining Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Billie Jean King.

Williams' road to the finals was not easy, as she came within two points of losing to Alla Kudryavtseva in the first round. After escaping in three sets, she took out Hane Sromova in straight sets before getting another stern challenge from Akiko Morigami in the third round. She needed three sets to get by Morigami before taking the decisive third set 7-5.

Williams then showed how much she's improved since the French Open (where she was knocked out in the third round) when she beat No. 2 Maria Sharapova, No. 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 6 Ana Ivanovic in succession, each in straight sets, to advance to her sixth career Wimbledon final.

When the next rankings are announced, Williams will move up to No. 17 and Bartoli will be No. 11.