Sania Mirza won her third WTA doubles title of the season and 12th overall as she and Yaroslava Shvedova pipped Olga Govortsova of Belarus and Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia in the final of the Citi Open here.

Defending their top billing, the Indo-Kazakh pair overcame their second seed opponents 6-3 6-3 after one hour and five minutes struggle.

Sania paired up with Yaroslava for this tournament since her regular Tour partner Elena Vesnina decided to skip the event.

She had triumphed at Indian Wells and Charleston with Vesnina and fell in the final of the French Open.

Sania and Yaroslova provided umpteen opportunities to their rivals but prevented damage by saving eight break chances in the second set. The winners shared $11,000 and earned 280 ranking points each.

Meanwhile, Somdev Devvarman will have to wait for his first career ATP title as he and Treat Conrad Huey lost the fiercely fought summit clash of the Farmer's Classic to Mark Knowles of Bahamas and Xavier Malisse of Belgium in Los Angeles.

The unseeded Indo-Philippine pair fought their hearts out but eventually lost the final 6-7 (3) 6-7 (10) to the third seed Bahams-Belgium pair in the $ 619,50 tournament.

It was for the first time that Somdev had reached the final of an ATP doubles event. He has made two singles final so far.

He reached final of Chennai Open, his home event, in 2009 and in Johannesburg early this year.

Somdev and Huey pushed their experienced opponents to limit but could not get past them in the tie-breakers. Things could have been different had not squandered two break chances in the second set.

They split $18,000 (Rs 7. 92 lakh) in prize money and earned 150 ranking points for their efforts in this tourney. Somdev had earlier lost in the men's singles first round.

Gulbis stuns Fish to win LA International
Los Angeles: Latvia's Ernests Gulbis survived a few anxious moments in the final set but held his nerve to upset top-seed Mardy Fish 5-7 6-4 6-4 and win the Los Angeles International on Sunday.

Serving for the match at 5-2, Gulbis was broken by American Fish and then trailed 30-40 on serve at 5-4 before sealing victory. The Latvian set up match point with a delicate forehand drop shot before clinching his second ATP title with a rasping forehand winner down the line.

"It means a lot to me. It's my second title," Gulbis told reporters. "It gives me a huge boost in confidence."

Serena overpowers Bartoli in Stanford
Stanford: Comeback queen Serena Williams won her first tournament in more than a year when she overpowered third seed Marion Bartoli of France 7-5 6-1 in the Stanford Classic final.

American Williams came from 2-4 down in the opening set and then dominated the rest of the match with booming serves and hard groundstrokes to claim her first title since Wimbledon last year.

The 13-time Grand Slam champion, who returned to the tour in June after taking almost a year off due to injury and illness, triumphed for the first time on home soil since her victory at the 2008 US Open.

"I haven't won a tournament in forever that wasn't a Grand Slam so it's cool,'' said Williams, whose last non-major title was the 2009 WTA Championships in Doha.

"I put a lot of work into this week. I want to take this whole (hardcourt) swing serious. It's a good time for me."

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