Venus Williams made short work of surprise finalist Virginie Razzano to win the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Sixth seed Williams, who beat sister Serena to secure her place in the final, started slowly against her unheralded opponent but found her stride to claim a 6-4 6-2 win.

Frenchwoman Razzano, ranked 58th in the world, was out of the blocks quickly and Williams was forced to save three break points early on as she struggled on serve.

But she clung on and the match went with serve until the 10th game, when the American pounced on the first chance she received, breaking to take the set.

Williams was on top now and broke immediately in the second set to take the early advantage.

She continued to punish the Razzano serve as she broke again for 3-0 and that proved to be all the cushion she heeded.

The players exchanged breaks but it was too late for Razzano as Williams claimed her 40th career singles title.

The Wimbledon champion will now return to the world's top five for the first time since August 2003.

(reopens) Williams was pleased the tournament went ahead, despite the controversy surrounding Israeli player Shahar Peer being denied a visa to play in the country.

The furore surrounding the decision, which saw tournament organisers fined US dollars 300,000, led to Peer's compatriot Andy Ram being given a visa to play in next week's men's event.

"They do an excellent job at this tournament," said Williams. "They do care about the players and putting on a great event.

"Despite a very challenging week for everyone, we got a positive result in the end. We all worked together.

"Shahar was very brave and paved the way for what happened this week with the men's event, and hopefully all the right things will be in place when we come back."

Williams was full of praise for Razzano, who beat world number two Dinara Safina and number five Vera Zvonareva on her run to the final.

"I have to congratulate Virginie on such a great week - she beat so many top-10 players and just played so well today," said Williams. "She really had a better week than I did.

"But it was a wonderful week for me too. I was able to win against the best player in the world in the semi-finals, and I'm happy to have played such a good player in the final.

"I think I got a little lucky today."