VILLANOVA, Pennsylvania — Amelie Mauresmo of France battled back from a set behind to overcome Russia’s Anastasia Myskina 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 at the Advanta Championships on Sunday to pick up her second title of the season.

The second-seeded Mauresmo rallied after losing the first set to win 12 of the next 14 games to register a quick revenge victory over Myskina, who beat her in the Kremlin Cup final earlier this month.

“You beat me last time in Moscow and now it’s my turn here in Philly,” Mauresmo told Myskina during the trophy ceremony at the campus of Villanova University.

It was also the third win in four meetings over the third-seeded Myskina, earning the 24-year-old the $93,000 top prize from the Tier II hardcourt event. Myskina, 22, earned $49,500. “I’m very happy with my tournament and am so happy to be in the top eight for the WTA Championships,” the Russian said. “That was my goal all year.”

Both players have qualified for the elite eight-player WTA Tour Championships next week in Los Angeles.

They were both coming off grueling Saturday night semifinals that took several hours to play, but it was Mauresmo that had more energy as the match wore on and the world number seven dominated the final two sets to win her 10th career title. The Advanta championships returned to the WTA schedule this year after a three-year absence.

Sharapova Wins Quebec WTA Over Injured Sequera

In Quebec City, Canada, unseeded Milagros Sequera’s surprising run to the $170,000 WTA Bell Challenge final came to a cruel end Sunday.

Sequera was forced to retire from her first WTA Tour championship match, giving second seed Maria Sharapova of Russia the second title of her career.

A Venezuelan who has spent most of her career on the developmental ITF Tour, the 23-year-old Sequera lost the first set 6-2 and she was unable to continue due to an ankle injury.

“I wanted to say that I am happy for this win,” Sharapova said. “But now I just want to say that I am sad for Milagros. I wish her the best and I want her to know that she should be very proud of the great week she had.”

This was the most successful week of Sequera’s career on the WTA Tour.

After reaching her first tour quarterfinal, Sequera upset French sixth seed Marion Bartoli and top-seeded Mary Pierce of France.

Sharapova already has two singles and a pair of doubles crowns in her young career. The 16-year-old Siberian will move up to a new career-high of No. 31. She also earned $27,000 after dropping just one set during the week. “It’s good to finish the year with a win,” Sharapova added. “But I didn’t want to win like that.”

Lopez Makes Davis Cup Final Team, Costa Out

In Madrid, Spain called up big-serving left-hander Feliciano Lopez yesterday as part of their four-man team for the Davis Cup final against Australia later this month.

Lopez, 22, was named along with top two singles players Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya and doubles regular Alex Corretja for the final, which will take place on grass in Melbourne from Nov. 28 to 30.

Albert Costa, who played doubles with Corretja in the first three rounds this year and was part of the team that beat Australia to win the Davis Cup for the first time in Barcelona in 2000, missed out on a place in the final.

“Leaving Costa out was a painful decision — the hardest we’ve had to take in the last three years,” said Juan Avendano, one of three coaches in charge of Spain’s Davis Cup team. “The change was made for the good of the team.”

The prospect of playing the tie on grass, a surface most Spanish players are unfamiliar with, prompted the change in line-up.

Lopez reached the last 16 at Wimbledon this year, losing to eventual champion Roger Federer, and strengthened his case for a place in the side by beating Australian Davis Cup player Mark Philippoussis in the recent Masters Series event in Madrid.

“Feliciano is playing very well at the moment and he’s a good grasscourt player,” Avendano said. Lopez is still likely to have to settle for a place in the doubles alongside Corretja, however.

Ferrero, the world number two and reigning French Open champion, and Moya, seventh on the ATP entry list and a former winner at Roland Garros, are ranked higher than number 28 Lopez and should keep their places in the singles. “In theory, Ferrero and Moya will play the singles, although in practice we don’t know,” Avendano said.

Venus Withdraws From WTA Tour Championships

In St. Petersburg, Florida, Venus Williams withdrew from next week’s WTA Tour Championships with an abdominal strain, allowing fellow American Chanda Rubin to qualify for the season-ending event in Los Angeles.

Williams has not played since the Wimbledon final in the first week of July.

She aggravated a stomach muscle injury during the semifinals at the All England Club. The same injury caused her to default the final at Warsaw in May.

Ninth on the Race to the Championship standings, Williams would have clinched one of the eight berths because sister Serena and American Lindsay Davenport withdrew with injuries. Rubin joins a singles field that includes defending champion Kim Clijsters, French and US Open champion Justin Henin-Hardenne, Jennifer Capriati, Amelie Mauresmo, Elena Dementieva, Anastasia Myskina and Ai Sugiyama. The withdrawal is a blow to a tournament that suffered from poor attendance last season at the Staples Center, even with the locally bred Williams sisters taking part in the event