World number one Serena Williams has refused to make any excuses after she was beaten in the French Open final by Garbine Muguruza on Saturday afternoon.

The American was hoping to equal Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam title wins but was unable to produce the goods at Roland Garros.

After failing in the Australian Open back in January, Williams was once again on the wrong end of the result as Muguruza picked up a 7-5 6-4 win on the clay.

Going into the tournament, Williams had been struggling with a thigh injury but the 34-year-old insists she was beaten by the better player and is expecting big things from Muguruza.

She said: “It was OK. I’m not one to ever make excuses and say ‘Oh, my adductor was hurting,’ or whatever.

“At the end of the day I didn’t play the game I needed to play to win and she did. Adductor or not, she played to win.

“She won the first set by one point. I mean, that just goes to show, you really have to play the big points well, and she played the big points really well.

“She knows how to play on the big stage and she clearly knows how to win Grand Slams.

She’s definitely hitting hard. She just goes for broke on every shot and it works for her.”

Williams will now shift her focus to the grass-court season for Wimbledon and she is 2.50 to win the SW19 title this summer.