Maria loses to Henin-Hardenne in Dubai final

Maria has lost the final today in Dubai to Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium 5-7 2-6.

It was the fourth-seeded Belgian's third Dubai title and her second tournament victory of the year after winning in Sydney and finishing as runner-up at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Third seed Sharapova, denied her 11th career title in her first final since she won on grass in Birmingham in June, was particularly adventurous in trying her luck at the net with varying degrees of success.

However, the 18-year-old Russian's limitations were exposed in the latter stages when she lacked patience in the rallies and failed to build a winning position.

Both players held easily in the first six games, each giving up just two points on serve. But things changed dramatically after that with almost every game being tightly contested.

Sharapova had to fight off two break points at 3-3, but then broke to lead 5-3 when she hit a drop shot so perfect that it caused her astonished opponent to drop her racquet, and then mis-hit a backhand wide.

Sharapova hit the ball long on break point when under no real pressure, before the Belgian served out the set to love in exactly an hour.

Henin-Hardenne then broke to lead 3-2 in the second set when Sharapova netted a forehand from the Belgian's fierce return.

Having moved exceptionally well throughout the match, Henin-Hardenne made it count the most at 4-2 when she ran down a ball from Sharapova and made a glorious backhand winner while on the run to earn a second break.

A dispirited Sharapova made one final effort to rescue the match, but Henin-Hardenne held off two break points before claiming victory.

Since her Birmingham victory last year, Sharapova had lost six straight semi-finals, including those of Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open, until her win over Lindsay Davenport on Friday put her into this final.