DOHA, Qatar -- Vera Zvonareva earned a straight-set win over world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki to capture the title at the Qatar Ladies Open.
The second-seeded Zvonareva posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory for her first title of 2011 and the 11th of her career. This was the Russian's first final of the year after semifinal appearances at the Australian Open and Pattaya Open. She was also a third-round loser last week in Dubai.
"Coming into this tournament I wasn't expecting to end my week like this," said Zvonareva.
Wozniacki was also a semifinalist at the Australian Open and won last week's tournament in Dubai. She had an eight-match winning streak stopped Saturday and hadn't dropped a set during that run.
The 20-year-old Dane had breezed through her first four matches this week, losing only nine games, but had trouble right from the start against Zvonareva.
After trading breaks through the first three games of the match, Zvonareva was the first player to hold serve for a 3-1 lead and she didn't drop serve again to claim the first set.
Zvonareva again broke serve twice in the second set and was broken only once to even the all-time series against Wozniacki at 4-4. The two have also split six meetings since the start of the 2010 season.
"I'm always disappointed to lose but I played a great competitor today," said Wozniacki. "Vera played a great match and a great tournament."
Wozniacki fell to 13-9 all-time in WTA finals, while Zvonareva improved to 11-16.
Saturday's victory was worth $111,000 for Zvonareva
