LONDON: Maria Sharapova insists she was powerless to prevent the most one-sided women's final in Olympic history as the Russian's gold medal dreams were crushed by Serena Williams on Saturday.

Sharapova was on the receiving end of a Williams masterclass on Wimbledon's Centre Court and the world number three, beaten 6-0, 6-1 in just 63 minutes, is convinced, that with Serena in such dominant form, she would have lost no matter how she played.

The French Open champion was never given a sniff by Serena, who at one stage late in the first set had served more aces than Sharapova's total points tally.

It was a humbling experience for Sharapova, who said: “Look, she's playing incredibly confident tennis. After winning Wimbledon, you've seen her level progress so much over this tournament.

“With every match she's played, she's playing better, hitting harder, so much power on the ball.

“Even against the wind today, her shots were very powerful. She's done an incredible job of keeping that up.

“She wasn't making many mistakes, not giving me many opportunities. She served extremely well and returned well. She was just too quick and too powerful today.”

Sharapova, 25, conceded she was disappointed to have underachieved on such a big occasion.

“Obviously there's things that I could have done different,” she said.

“There are always things that you feel like you can do better.

“If I sat here and said there's nothing that I could do better, that wouldn't be so motivating to go back on the court and keep working.

“So absolutely there are things here and there that I, for sure, could have done better.”

Although she was frustrared to miss out on a first gold medal, Sharapova was still pleased to leave London with silver in her debut Games.

“It means a lot. This is my first Olympic experience,” she said.

“This is probably one of the toughest events, playing six matches in the span of eight days against tough competition.

“It's such a unique experience for all of us. For me to be a first Olympian and to leave with a silver is an amazing accomplishment.

“Obviously it's always disappointing to lose in the finals, but it's great to get a medal, that's for sure.”