AMELIA ISLAND (Florida), April 14: Maria Sharapova captured her first claycourt title when she defeated Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova 7-6, 6-3 in the Amelia Island Championship final on Sunday.

Sharapova became the first woman to win three titles this season following her success at the Australian Open and Qatar Open and improved her 2008 win-loss record to 22-1.

She suffered her only defeat this season against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semi-finals at Indian Wells.

Sharapova was pushed all the way in the opening set and eventually captured it 9-7 in the tiebreak when Cibulkova sent a backhand into the net.

The Florida-based Sharapova cut down on her unforced errors from 26 in the first set to just seven in the second set to wrap up the match.

Cibulkova, playing in her first WTA final, was hampered by a leg injury and received treatment from the trainer in the second set after breaking Sharapova for a 2-1 lead.

The injury appeared to take its toll on Cibulkova, who won just one more game.—Reuters