Associated Press

Doha, February 27:

Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova rallied to beat fourth-seeded Alicia Molik of Australia 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the Qatar Open final and earn her second WTA Tour title this month.

Molik broke second-seeded Sharapova in the third game for the first set, and appeared headed for her second singles title of 2005 after winning in Sydney last month. But a fired up

Sharapova raced to 5-0 with accurate passes to even the set score, and in the decider, the 17-year-old Russian returned extremely well to break Molik in game five and hold serve, closing with an ace on match point.

It was Sharapova’s ninth career title. She won the Tokyo Open this month then took two weeks off to recover from the flu.

Sharapova earned the $94,000 winner’s cheque, and Molik $65,800, which includes the doubles title with Francesca Schiavone of Italy. Molik, the Australian Open doubles champ, and Schiavone beat Africans Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

Dubai Open:

DUBAI: Roger Federer thrashed Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-1 in the Dubai Open and will meet Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in a third final this year.

Top-seeded Federer beat fourth-seeded Agassi for a sixth straight time, and even more impressively than his straight-sets victory in the Australian Open quarter-finals last month.

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

Ljubicic fired 13 aces to knock out fifth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-4, 6-3 in the other semi-final.

Federer and Agassi had to double up on the day after beating Russian opponents in quarter-finals which had been postponed from Friday, because of rain. Federer downed seventh-seeded Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 7-5, and Agassi topped No 6 Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 7-6.

Mexican Open:

ACAPULCO: Rafael Nadal mixed blistering groundstrokes with a soft touch around the net to sweep past fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-1, 6-0 and win the Mexican Open.

The 18-year-old left-hander was aggressive from the start, keeping his opponent off-balance by alternating between power and soft pushes that just floated over the net and landed loaded with top spin.

Montanes looked intimidated early and tired from then on. It was the second tournament victory in as many weeks for Nadal, who won the Brazilian Open on February 19.

The championship for Acapulco’s WTA tournament will pit top-seeded Flavia Pennetta against Slovakian Ludmila Cervanova.

It’s the second consecutive Mexican Open championship game for Pennetta, who got there by breezing past fellow Italian Antonella Serra Zanetti, 6-2, 6-1. Cervanova upset fifth-seeded Madagascan Dally Randriantefy 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.