Top seed Maria Sharapova won her first claycourt title by defeating Dominika Cibulkova 7-6 6-3 in the final of the WTA Amelia Island tournament on Sunday.

The Australian Open champion defeated Cibulkova in just under two hours for her third title of the year and 19th of her career.

It was the first championship on clay for the 20-year-old Sharapova, who had been 0-3 in previous showings.

Maria is through to her 1st clay final at Amelia Island without hitting a ball after #16 seed Lindsay Davenport of the United States pulled out.

In the final to be played on Sunday, Maria will play either Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia or Alize Cornet of France.  Both players are 18 and unseeded and one of them will be playing their 1st big final.

Maria Sharapova rallied to defeat Ukranian Alona Bondarenko 6-7 (9/11), 6-3, 6-2 in a Friday quarter-final at the WTA Bausch and Lomb Championship.

Top seed Sharapova advanced to a Saturday semi-final at the 600,000-dollar clay court event against US veteran Lindsay Davenport, who eliminated Hungarian eighth seed Agnes Szavay 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).

Russian star Sharapova, who turns 21 on April 19, has never reached a clay court final in her career but would with a victory Saturday that would also give her a chance to play for the 95,500-dollar top prize.

Maria Sharapova returned after a two-week break with a straight-sets win over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic at Amelia Island.

The Russian pulled out of last week's Sony Ericsson Open with a shoulder injury, but admitted at the time that her heavy schedule was taking its toll.
However, Sharapova showed no ill effects in her first clay match of 2008 as she beat Strycova 6-1 6-3.

Maria Sharapova has committed to play in the Bausch & Lomb Championships for the first time, tournament officials announced Thursday.

The Russian star, who is currently ranked fifth in the world, will make her debut at Amelia Island Plantation on April 7-13 as the tournament's No. 1 seed.

"Maria is an absolute global superstar," tournament director John Arrix said. "It is really exciting for us to bring her to an event that is quaint and small but has so much history."