MIAMI, FL, USA - Serena Williams cooled off a red hot Maria Sharapova in the final of the Sony Open Tennis on Saturday afternoon, seemingly with her back against the wall at a set and a break down but then rattling off 10 games in a row to conquer the prestigious tournament for a record sixth time.

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Williams started the match with an emphatic hold, firing winners from her three biggest weapons - a forehand winner on the first point, a backhand winner on the second point, and an ace to close the game out - but it didn't take too long for her opponent to make her own agenda known in the match.

Sharapova held in the next game and pushed Williams to a multiple deuce game in her next serve game, her returns hard and her movement sharp - and that's how she continued to play for the next hour, eventually taking the first set, 6-4, and breaking the Williams serve to lead the second set, 3-2.

The match turned on a dime from there, though - with Sharapova serving 3-2, Williams blasted a backhand winner, a forehand winner and a big backhand return to build triple break point, and then she sealed the deal at love to even the second set, 3-3. It would be the start of the World No.1's latest comeback, as her serve started hitting the corners and her groundies got deeper and deeper.

Williams wouldn't lose another game the rest of the way to complete a 46 63 60 win over Sharapova.

The numbers from the match were telling - Williams had 14 winners to 18 unforced errors in the first set but finished the match with 34 winners to 29 unforced errors - a very positive 20 to 11 across the second and third sets, most of those errors coming in the first five games of the second set.

And that goes with the trend, too: Williams leads all active players for winning percentage when losing the first set, now 45.5% (70-84); Sharapova is next (38.5%) followed by Venus Williams (34.7%).

The victory didn't just give Williams her 48th WTA title, it also made her the standalone leader for career titles at the Sony Open Tennis, this being her sixth - she also won it in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008 (Steffi Graf won the tournament five times, in 1987, 1988, 1994, 1995 and 1996).

Williams is also just the fourth player ever to win any WTA event six times - Martina Navratilova has done it at 10 tournaments, Steffi Graf at six tournaments and Chris Evert at four tournaments.

"It's obviously been a really nice month," Sharapova said at the trophy ceremony. "It's disappointing to end it like this but Serena played a great match, and I'm sure we'll play a few more times this year."

"Maria definitely pushed me - she did a really great job today," Williams said. "Like she said, I look forward to our next matches - it's going to be really fun for the fans and for us and for everyone."

And though she barely missed in the second half of the match, Williams did fumble the second half of her acceptance speech. "It's so good to be No.6 now," she said. "I mean... the sixth time. Oh gosh."

Sharapova fell to 0-5 in finals in Miami, having also been runner-up in 2005 (to Kim Clijsters), 2006 (to Svetlana Kuznetsova), 2011 (to Victoria Azarenka) and 2012 (to Agnieszka Radwanska).

One point from defeat in
the last set, the Scotsman
skipped a forehand off the
baseline to stay in the
match. Ferrer appealed the
call but lost, and he
battled leg cramps in the
tiebreaker.
"I don't think either of us
played our best tennis,"
Murray said. "There was a
lot of breaks and ups and
downs, quite a lot of
mistakes from both of us.
But what I did do was
fight hard."
Murray also won the title
in 2009. His path to this
year's championship was
made easier because
Roger Federer and Rafael
Nadal skipped the
tournament and Novak
Djokovic lost in the fourth
round.
Murray made a
breakthrough last year by
winning an Olympic gold
medal and his first Grand
Slam title at the U.S. Open.
He'll now move ahead of
Federer to No. 2 in the
rankings behind Djokovic.
The No. 3-seeded Ferrer,
who was seeking the
biggest title of his career,
fell to 0-13 against top-
five players in finals.
Spaniards are 0-6 in the
Key Biscayne men's final,
with Nadal losing three of
those matches.
But Murray sang the
praises of Ferrer, a
frequent practice partner.
"He's one of the best
players in the world,"
Murray said. "Every time I
play against him, people
expect me to win. I say it's
so tough against him. He
has a great attitude and is
a great fighter."
Murray has a home 15
minutes from the
tournament site, near
downtown Miami, and
spends three months a
year in South Florida. But
the sellout crowd was
firmly behind Ferrer.
"Playing here in Miami is
like when I play in Spain,"
Ferrer said during the
trophy ceremony to a roar
from his rooters.
"I'm sorry," he added,
managing a chuckle. "I'm
so sorry. One point. Next
time."
Playing in sunny, 80-
degree weather, Murray
and Ferrer were both
drained in the third set,
which started with six
consecutive service breaks.
"It was so tough physically
and mentally that you
were just trying to play
each point," Murray said.
Murray was a point from
defeat serving at 5-6.
When he hit a forehand on
the line, Ferrer stopped to
challenge the call. A
panting Murray leaned on
his racket while replay
confirmed the ruling to
make the score deuce.
"That's the beauty of the
challenge system," Murray
said. "In some matches, it
would have been over.
Luckily it just dropped in."
He won the game to hold
two points later, then
raced to a 4-0 lead in the
tiebreaker. At 4-1, a
grinding exchange ended
with Ferrer pulling a
backhand wide, and he
then collapsed to the
concrete from cramps.
Ferrer limped through the
final two points. When
Murray hit a return winner
for the victory, he quickly
dropped his racket, eager
to call it a day. The two
finalists then met at the
net to trade weary pats on
the back.
Copyright 2013 by The
Associated Press