Andy Murray defeated Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, yesterday to win the Qatar Open in Doha, his first tournament since splitting with coach Brad Gilbert.

Murray, seeded third, won his fourth ATP title and beat his unseeded Swiss opponent for the first time. It also was his first hard-court title.

"I had never won a tournament in the first week of the season," said Murray, who lost last year's final to Ivan Ljubicic. "It is great going into the Australian Open."

Murray broke with Gilbert in November. "I worked really hard in the offseason, on my fitness and on my tennis," the Scotsman said. "It's the hardest I've ever worked in my life, so I'm happy it paid off this week."

Murray's previous titles came in San Jose, Calif., and St. Petersburg last year, and in San Jose in 2006.

"He improved a lot last year, and I think he's going to be much better," Wawrinka said. "It's very difficult to play against him, to come to the net or to stay back."

Venus Williams beat Russia's Maria Sharapova in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to win the JB Group Classic exhibition in Hong Kong -- a warmup for the Australian Open. Both players were holding serve comfortably in the early games, but the Russian faltered first. .

• Rafael Nadal was extended to three tiebreakers and outlasted Carlos Moya, setting up a Chennai Open final with Mikhail Youzhny. Nadal, ranked No. 2, won, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (1). Youzhny, a Russian seeded fourth, defeated Croat teenager Marin Cilic, 6-2, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

Will Bynum, a former Georgia Tech player now playing in Israel, was arrested in and accused of running over a man after leaving a nightclub brawl. The injured man was in serious but stable condition, the Haaretz newspaper reported. Bynum had a hearing in Tel Aviv and was to remain in custody.

• Former NBA star Scottie Pippen scored nine points to help Finland league leader Torpan Pojat beat Honka, 98-85, in Vantaa. Pippen also had nine rebounds. "It was great. I did not know what to anticipate without a game for the last three years," the 42-year-old Pippen said.

Road race expert Boris Said proved to be the master of Mount Van Hoevenberg again, winning both races in the third annual Bodine Bobsled Challenge in Lake Placid, N.Y. In the three years the event featuring race car drivers on ice has been run, Said has won five of six races, finishing second to Kevin Lepage when didn't take the gold.

Ryan Cruthers and Chris Kaufman each scored two goals as Robert Morris (9-7-2) won against American International College (4-13-2), 6-3, in a non-conference matchup at the Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield, Mass. The Colonials scored three times in the third period to lock up the win.

Driver Danny Tharps, who won his first pari-mutuel start as a teenager, won his 4,000th race of his career when he guided trotter Bob to a win at the Meadows.

Brothers Lamont and Anthony Peterson of Washington, D.C., kept their undefeated records and hopes for a world title shot in 2008 in tact with victories in bouts at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Biloxi, Miss. The 23-year-old Lamont Peterson, 14 months older than Anthony, improved to 24-0 with 11 knockouts with a unanimous 10-round decision against previously undefeated Brazilian Antonio Mesquita. Anthony Peterson moved to 26-0 with 19 knockouts with an eighth-round stoppage of Cuba's Jose Izquierdo.