Venus Williams rallied to win the WTA's Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar, for the first time, defeating Vera Zvonareva, 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-2, yesterday at the season-ending event.

The Wimbledon champion took command in the last two sets with powerful serving, smashes and aggressive groundstrokes against her Russian opponent. "I'm so excited," Williams said. "That was a hard-fought match, every point, right down to the end."

Williams won $1.34 million at the event, which for the first time offered the same prize money as the men at the ATP's season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai.

The first lady of Qatar, a conservative Muslim sheikdom, presented the trophy to Williams. Sheika Mozah bint Nasser al-Missned wore a traditional black head scarf and robe.

Novak Djokovic ended his Masters Cup jinx overcoming a rash of errors to defeat Juan Martin del Potro, 7-5, 6-3, in the season-ending tournament in Shanghai, China. Nikolay Davydenko used his strong ground game to rally past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (0), in the other round-robin match.

New York Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte filed for free agency after repeatedly saying he hopes to return to the club next year. Pettitte went 14-14 last season with a 4.54 ERA -- his highest ERA since 1999.

Joe Calzaghe battered and bloodied Roy Jones Jr. in a one-sided unanimous decision Saturday night in New York in what Calzaghe has claimed will be his final bout. The victory at Madison Square Garden comes on the heels of a close decision over savvy veteran Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas.

American Olympic champion Shani Davis narrowly lost to Stefan Groothuis of the Netherlands in the opening 1,000-meter race of the World Cup season in Berlin. Groothuis finished in 1 minute, 9.13 seconds, 0.20 ahead of Davis.

Christine Nesbitt of Canada won the women's 1,000 in the absence of world champion Anni Friesinger of Germany, who had knee surgery.

Eric Devendorf, looking more like his old self, had 15 points, three blocks and two steals in leading host Syracuse to a 73-63 victory against IUP.

Walter Ray Williams Jr. earned his 45th career PBA Tour title in Hammond, Ind., defeating Bill O'Neill, 246-202, in the Lake County Indiana Golden Anniversary Championship. Williams is also the career money leader with $4,030,116 in earnings.

Erica McKenzie beat Charline Labonte in the sixth round of a shootout, and Jessie Vetter stopped Meghan Agosta with a glove save to give the United States a 3-2 victory against Canada in the Four Nations Cup final in Lake Placid, N.Y. Vetter stopped all six Canadian shots in the tiebreaker.

Kenya's Nicholas Paul Lekuraa set a course record to win the Athens Classic Marathon, outsprinting Julius Seurei Kiprotich in a race tracing the ancient course. The 25-year-old Kiprotich crossed the finish line at the marble Panathenian stadium in 2 hours, 12 minutes, 42 seconds, with the 33-year-old Kiprotich of Kenya clocking the same time.

Mai Tagami of Japan was the fastest woman in 2:36:58, with Elena Tikhonova of Russia second in 2:40:45.