Serena Williams'injury-induced weakened serves drove Maria Sharapova to distraction. Two games from ending the season in defeat, the Russian teenager focused on holding her own serve.

　　Sharapova overcame the early third-set mental lapse and beat Williams 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 for the WTA Championships title in Los Angeles on Monday in a rematch of their Wimbledon final.

　　The 17-year-old Russian will rise to a career-high fourth when the year-end WTA rankings are released today.

　　I don?t think I could?ve asked for anything better this year, Sharapova said. òIt?s been an extraordinary year for me. I know that I?m not showing a lot of emotion, but I?m sort of just speechless. Sharapova stunned Williams for the Wimbledon title in July, propelling the blond teenager to international stardom. She finished the year with five titles.

　　Williams trailed 2-5 in the second set when she called for a trainer after straining her abdominal muscle. The injury greatly affected Williams? serve ? usually a 190-kph weapon but reduced to the 104-kph puff of a weekend hacker.

　　òAfter she got the medical treatment, I could tell that she had problems serving, but on the groundstrokes she was just teeing off on everything, Sharapova said. òBeside her serve, she didn?t look injured once she was playing, so she was actually being really tough. I couldn?t capitalize on the weak serves that she hit. Williams left the court for five minutes and returned to have her serve broken in losing the set 6-2. She rolled to a 4-0 lead in the third, including winning the first 11 points of the set and twice breaking a flustered Sharapova.

　　òShe figured that she can?t really do anything from her serve so she Sharapova said. òThere was just not too much I could do. I just tried to find a little opening and get back in there. After the third game, the trainer reappeared to wind a large wrap around Williams? stomach. She slipped an ice bag under her shirt on later changeovers.

　　òIt?s definitely a muscle strain, said Williams, who felt a cramp in her stomach in the first game of the match. òI don?t know how I stayed out there. I definitely thought about not finishing the match, but I like to fight, I guess. Sharapova held to trail 1-4, then broke in the next game when Williams netted a forehand. The injury didn?t seem to bother Williams during rallies when she displayed her powerful groundstrokes.

　　Once I got into rallies it was definitely a lot better, not 100 percent, she said. òIt was better than serving, that?s for sure. In the eighth game, Williams double-faulted twice in a row to fall behind 15-40. After Sharapova?s backhand error, Williams double-faulted and the set was tied at 4-all.

　　Sharapova served a love game for a 5-4 lead. Williams? serve slowed even more in the next game and she trailed 15-40. Sharapova hit a clean forehand winner off Williams? final serve to close out the victory.

　　The Russian dropped to the court and lay down for a few moments before making her way to the net. òI froze, she said. òIt was a relief. Williams was the overwhelming favorite of 11,397 at Staples Center. They gave her a sustained applause each time she stepped up to the service line in the final set. Williams took a lot of pace off the ball in the third set, mindful of sister Venus? abdominal injury in the 2003 Wimbledon semifinals that eventually cost her six months off the tour.

　　Sharapova earned US$1 million ? tying the US Open winner?s check ? for the second major title of her career. She also received a new SUV worth US$56,300.

　　She said she planned to give the car or proceeds from its sale to the survivors of the September hostage-taking at a school in Beslan, Russia, that left more than 300 people dead, half of them children.

　　(The Associated Press)