Maria Sharapova took her second title of the year and the 18th of her career, beating Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 2-6 and 6-0 in an all-Russian final at the Qatar Open in Doha on Sunday.

The Australian Open champion, who extended her unbeaten run this year to 14 matches, lost to Zvonareva in their last meeting at Indian Wells 11 months ago.

In front of a packed 5,000-seat stadium, fourth seed Sharapova made a dreadful start, dropping the opening game to love, but she came back soon to level at 1-1 and then overwhelm her opponent with deep groundstrokes and powerful forehand.

Her aggressive play forced errors from Zvonareva and allowed her to break twice more for the set.

In the second set, a double-fault gave Zvonareva a break for 2-0 after Sharapova led the game 40-0. With just three unforced errors, Zvonareva dominated the set and broke again to level the match on her fifth set point.

In the final set, a determined Sharapova raised her level once more, taking control from the first game and surrendering just eight points in the remainder of the match.

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2008)