Roger Federer completed a busy weekend with a hard-fought victory over Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships.

The world's top-ranked player, Federer beat Ljubicic 6-1 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 for his third title in Dubai and third title of the season.

Federer improved to 20-1 this year and has won 36 of his last 37 matches overall.

His only defeat so far in 2005 came against Russian Marat Safin in the Australian Open semi-finals.

On Saturday, the Swiss won a quarter-final match against seventh seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and then disposed of fourth-seeded Andre Agassi after inclement weather forced postponements on Friday.

The eighth-seeded Ljubicic played in his third final in as many weeks and also lost to Federer at Rotterdam. He has yet to win a title in 2005.