Feb 27, 2005 3 min read

DOHA, Qatar (AP) – Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova won her second WTA Tour title this month, rallying past Alicia Molik of Australia 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 Saturday in the Qatar Open final. Sharapova, seeded second, captured her ninth career title. She won the Tokyo Open this month, then took two weeks off to recover from the flu.

Molik, seeded fourth, broke the 17-year-old Russian in the third game for the first set and appeared in position for her second title of 2005 after winning in Sydney, Australia, last month.

“After losing the first set, I just tried to hang in there and wait for my turn to make something happen,” Sharapova said. “I am glad that I managed to play my best tennis today after the first set.”

Sharapova made two breaks to even the match. In the third set, the Russian returned extremely well and broke Molik in the fifth game. She then held serve and closed with an ace.

“I can safely say that the best player in the tournament won the title here,” Molik said.

Federer defeats Agassi to reach Dubai final

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Roger Federer routed Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-1 in the Dubai Open semifinals Saturday and will play Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic in a title match for the third time this year.

The top-ranked Federer beat Agassi a sixth straight time. This latest victory was even more impressive than the one in straight sets in last month’s Australian Open quarterfinals. Agassi last defeated Federer in 2002.

Federer, the two-time defending Dubai champion, will play eighth-seeded Ljubicic only a week after edging the big-serving Croat in the Rotterdam final. Last month, the Swiss star downed Ljubicic in the Doha final.

“Hopefully, I will have a few spectators on my side tomorrow,” Ljubicic said after firing 13 aces to oust fifth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-4, 6-3 in the other semifinal.

This will be Ljubicic’s fourth final of the year, and he has yet to win one.

Federer has won an ATP-record 15 straight finals since 2003.

Earlier, Federer and Agassi beat Russian opponents in quarterfinals that had been postponed from Friday because of rain. Federer downed seventh-seeded Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 7-5. Agassi, seeded fourth, topped sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Arthurs gets second career final appearance

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Australian Wayne Arthurs, the second-oldest player on the ATP Tour, earned his second career final appearance on Saturday with a 7-5, 7-6 (2) semifinal victory over Christophe Rochus of Belgium in the Tennis Channel Open.

The 33-year-old Arthurs advanced to Sunday’s final against the winner of the other semifinal match between defending champion Vincent Spadea and No. 3 seed Mario Ancic.

Arthurs, never a winner on the ATP Tour, dominated the match with a powerhouse serve that has been his big weapon throughout the week at the Scottsdale Princess Resort. Arthurs had 19 aces – giving him 65 for the week – and never lost serve in the 1-hour, 19-minute match, running his streak of consecutive held serves this week to 51. His lone lost serve came in his first-round victory over No. 4 seed Taylor Dent.