Serena Williams earned more in every two and a half minutes play in her Wimbledon semi-final than a UK nurse does in an entire year.

Williams beat the Russian Elena Vesnina in just 48 minutes, the fastest ladies' semi-final at the Championships since IBM started keeping records in 2002.

The defending champion earned herself £500,000 by progressing to the final, equating to £10,417 for every minute she played.

In little more than two minutes she had earned as much as an average nurse, whose salary in the UK, according to the website payscale.com is £23,019 a year.

In three minutes she had pocketed more than an average teacher, who is on £27,792.

Williams won 53 points in the match, earning an astonishing £9,434 for each one.

And she made an estimated 156 shots, getting £3,205 for every stroke of the ball.

It would take a bus driver on an average wage of £9.49 an hour 338 hours to earn that - or around eight and a half weeks behind the wheel, based on a 40-hour working week.

But the match was comparably even more lucrative for the vanquished Vesnina.

According to IBM she won just 21 points, but by progressing to the semi-final she earned £250,000 more than if she had lost in the previous round.

This equates to £11,905 a point. Vesnina played an estimated 212 shots, earning around £1,179 for each one.

Speaking after the match, Williams said she did not imagine her 6-2, 6-0 win could have been so emphatic.

She said: "It wasn't anything that was super-easy. I was very intense the whole time. I ran and I worked hard, I served well, I moved well.

"The scoreline just reflected me doing what I know I can do."