Azarenka picks up third title in 2012

DOHA, Qatar, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka remained undefeated in 2012 and picked up her third tournament title of the year Sunday at the Qatar Total Open.

Azarenka defeated third-seeded Samantha Stosur 6-1, 6-2 to add the Qatar championship to her wins at Sydney and the Australian Open. She's 17-0 on the year.

Going back to last year, she's won 25 of her last 27 matches. That includes Azarenka's win in Luxembourg but two three-set losses at the WTA Championships. One loss was in round-robin play and the other was in the tournament finals to Petra Kvitova.

Azarenka extended her career mark to 6-0 against Stosur with Sunday's win.

She lost just seven points over seven service games and ended the match with her fifth break. Azarenka landed 74 percent of her first serves and took 20-of-26 points in those situations. She even won 9-of-10 points on her second serve.

It was the 11th championship for Azarenka, all of which have come since January 2009. Stosur fell to 3-11 in tournament title matches.

The first-place check of $385,000 boosted Azarenka's 2012 total to nearly $3 million. Stosur, who was just 3-3 -- 2-0 in Fed Cup play -- on the year before Qatar, picked up $192,000 as runner-up.