Phelps beat Serbian Milorad Cavic in a rematch of last summer's Olympics, when Phelps narrowly edged Cavic by 1/100th of a second for a gold medal.
But Friday Cavic set the world record with a time of 50.01 seconds during the semifinals.
Phelps had to come from behind to reclaim the record Saturday. He was fourth at the halfway turn and a half-body length behind Cavic with nearly 25 meters left, but passed the Serbian before finishing in a time of 49.82 seconds -- .13 seconds ahead of Cavic.
Also Saturday, Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry won the women's 200-meter backstroke in a world-record time of 2:04.81. Australian Marieke Guehrer captured the final in the women's 50-meter butterfly in a time of 25.48 seconds.
Brazil's Cesar Cielo Filho won the men's 50-meter freestyle final in a time of 21.08 seconds, just ahead of world record-holder Frederick Bousquet of France (21.21).
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
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