Venus Williams had her first taste of success for 14 months on Sunday.

The fourth-seeded American, whose 2003 season was largely ruined by a stomach injury, rallied to beat 16th seed Conchita Martinez of Spain 2-6 6-2 6-1 to win the Family Circle Cup claycourt event.

Williams missed the last six months of the 2003 season with the ailment and struggled in her comeback, failing to get past the quarter-finals in four previous tournaments.

"I'm just so excited," Williams said. "I really want to start the year from here. I really want to stay positive. Sometimes, I'm out there thinking about what I'm doing wrong. I want to stay positive and keep on rolling."

A former world number one, Williams became only the 13th player in the Open era to win 30 career titles and tied Tracy Austin for 11th place on the career list.

She also became just the third woman in the last 10 years to win a Tier I event in her debut, joining Justine Henin-Hardenne at 2003 Charleston and Martina Hingis at 1998 Indian Wells.

Williams earned £105,000 for her first title since the Proximus Diamond Games at Antwerp in February 2003. It is her first on clay since Amelia Island in 2002.

"(Martinez) gave me a lot of short balls so I had to do my best to deal with them," Williams said. "I've been trying to stay aggressive as (US Fed Cup coach) Billie Jean (King) and (US Fed Cup captain) Zina (Garrison) and my parents have been telling me and it worked out today."

The 32-year-old Martinez won this event in 1994 and 1995, but couldn't do much against Williams after winning the first set.

She lost for the third time in as many meetings against the American and watched her winless streak reach 49 tournaments without a title.