China's Li Na proved too strong for former world number one Maria Sharapova at Edgbaston for the second year in succession when she claimed the grasscourt title with a 7-5 6-1 victory.

The top seed was given a tough fight early on by Sharapova before racing to her third career title."It's always exciting to be in the final, you can show your best tennis to everyone," Australian Open semi-finalist Li said."There's nothing better than winning a final. Today I hit the ball flatter and it makes it easier to win points on grass."

Three-times grand slam champion Sharapova, trying to climb back into the world's top 10 after her career was stalled by a serious shoulder injury, lost to Li in last year's semi-finals.

Although she again found the Chinese blocking her attempt to win a third Edgbaston title, the Russian was far from downhearted as she switched her focus to Wimbledon.

"The goal was to get as many matches as I could and I did that and I've played opponents with different types of game," Sharapova said. "It's always nice to win a tournament but it doesn't always happen."I would have loved to win but she was the better player today and she did many things better than me. She returned great. I put her under no pressure whatsoever on her serve."

Sharapova said she could not wait to get to Wimbledon's practice courts next week."The week before Wimbledon is always great as there's no one around and you can walk around and take it all in," the 2004 champion said. "You can really sense the feeling of the tournament."

Congratulations to the very impressive Li Na. Regarding­ the Maria situation, it is too early to know what is­ really wrong. Tracy Austin aside, I think 23 is far too­ young to entertain the 'burn out' scenario but,­ if we are allowed to guess at what could be wrong, my­ own take will be that unaccountably she returned from a­ few months break for shoulder surgery and recuperation­ and, alas the playing field has shifted, the players­ have simply moved on ahead of her. Why this is so is­ mystifying. there does not appear to be anything wrong­ with her game, she just does not appear to be able to­ beat the players she would normally be expected to beat­ in a best of three sets. It is evident that she can­ still compete with anyone for one set so the suspicion­ will point to stamina and perhaps not being at her­ optimum peak fitness for matches. But this is just­ guesswork. Maria herself will provide the answers­ sooner or later.