Venus Williams has captured the Wimbledon crown for the third time in her brilliant career, knocking off world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport in an epic three-set final on Saturday at the All England Club. The 14th-seeded Williams earned her fifth Grand Slam title with a thrilling 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 9-7 victory in the longest women's final on Centre Court. The two-hour, 45-minute match ended when Davenport netted a forehand on Williams' second championship point. Williams previously won Wimbledon in 2000 -- also beating Davenport -- and in 2001, then lost to sister Serena in the final in each of the following two years. It was also the first major championship for Venus since the second of her back-to-back U.S. Open wins in 2001. In winning her 33rd career title and second this year, Williams earned a first prize of $1.06 million. The top-seeded Davenport, who had a championship point against Venus' serve in the 10th game of the third set, has not won a Grand Slam crown since the 2000 Australian Open. She had a chance to end the drought in Melbourne earlier this year, losing in a three-set final to Serena Williams -- a match in which Davenport also blew a one-set lead. Davenport lost that final set 6-0, but this time had plenty of chances to win. Early in the third set, Davenport failed to convert a pair of break points as Venus staved off two in her first service game. Two more break points came in the sixth game and a wide forehand by Venus on the second gave Davenport a 4-2 lead. Davenport appeared primed to take full advantage, racing out to a 40-15 lead in the next game, but Venus fought back and won the next four points to break right back. At that point, Davenport called for the trainer after injuring her lower back and left the court for a few minutes. Both players held serve in the next two games, giving Davenport a 5-4 lead and a double fault by Venus in the 10th game gave her opponent a championship point. Venus, though, ripped a backhand winner to stay alive and went on to hold serve. With no tiebreaker in the decisive set at Wimbledon, the two played into the 15th game when Venus finally broke serve again for an 8-7 lead. She then raced out to a 40-0 lead, setting up three championship points with a beautiful backhand passing shot. A double fault on the next point gave Davenport some hope, but not for long as a forehand into the net finished the match. "There were so many times when I was just trying to stay in the match," Venus said during the trophy presentation. The marathon eclipsed the old women's final record of two hours, 28 minutes in Margaret Court's 1970 victory over Billie-Jean King. This was the 27th career meeting between Davenport and Venus. Davenport still owns a 14-13 record, but had a four-match winning streak stopped. Venus, however, has owned Davenport at Wimbledon, winning all four matches. In addition to the championship tilts, Venus also prevailed in the 2001 semis and the 2003 quarters. Davenport opened this match with a pair of breaks in the first set to gain a 5-2 advantage, but Venus broke at love and went on to win nine straight points to show signs of life before finally dropping the set. The second set remained on serve until the 11th game when Davenport won the first three points. Venus staved off one break point, then fell down on the next and Davenport finished it off to grab a 6-5 lead. With Davenport serving for the match, Venus again regrouped impressively and broke at love to send the set to a tiebreaker. Venus quickly jumped in front 3-0 and led 5-1, but Davenport roared back to pull within 5-4 only to lose the next two points and send the match to a decisive set. "I thought I played really well and I thought I had a lot of chances," said Davenport. "I feel like she never let me take advantage of those chances." Davenport earned $530,000 for her fourth career Grand Slam runner-up finish.