Andy Murray shrugged off a back injury to tame Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-2 and retain his title at the Qatar Open on Saturday. The British third seed had hinted he might skip the final after struggling with a stiff back during his semifinal win over Roger Federer on Friday. If American Roddick had been hoping for an easy ride to the title, his hopes were dashed in 70 brutal minutes. As Murray enjoyed the perfect build-up to the start of the Australian Open on Jan. 19, the result also earned him a ninth ATP trophy. Azarenka wins Brisbane title Belarussian Victoria Azarenka beat Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-1 in the women's final at the Brisbane International on Saturday to capture her first WTA singles title. The second-seeded Azarenka ended a frustrating run of four final losses in the past two seasons with a dominating display, winning the tournament without dropping a set. Bartoli's loss completed a disappointing day for the French in Brisbane after Spanish Davis Cup hero Fernando Verdasco and Czech Radek Stepanek won their semifinals against French opponents. Third-seed Verdasco beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-1 before eighth-seed Stepanek came from behind to beat Richard Gasquet 2-6, 6-2 6-4. Americas win in HK Venus Williams crushed Vera Zvonareva in straight sets to seal victory for the Americas over top seeds Russia in the Hong Kong World Team Challenge Saturday. Williams dominated from the start of the match, beating the world number seven 6-2, 6-2 to give her team an unassailable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five gold group final. It followed a hard-fought 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win for Gisela Dulko over Anna Chakvetadze after the Americas and Russia were tied at 1-1 overnight. Dementieva wins ASB Classic Elena Dementieva claimed her 12th WTA singles tennis title Saturday when she beat fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-1 at the ASB Classic. Dementieva, No.4-ranked and the tournament's top seed, outclassed 76th-ranked Vesnina in an 88-minute final, overcoming a slow start to dominate the match with consistent power and accuracy. The match was the 17th all-Russian final in WTA tournaments since 2003, nine of which have featured Dementieva, who will seek her first Grand Slam crown in this month's Australian Open. Cilic-Devvarman final World number 27 Marin Cilic of Croatia advanced to the final of the $450,000 ATP Chennai Open with an easy win over Marcel Granollers of Spain on Saturday. Cilic, seeded third, won 6-4, 6-3 against the 55th-ranked Granollers to set up a title clash against Indian wildcard Somdev Devvarman on Sunday. Devvarman, 23, reached his first ATP tour final after his semifinal opponent, Rainer Schuettler of Germany, withdrew with a wrist injury.
