Dementieva shatters Hingis's Tokyo title dream

Elena Dementieva ended Martina Hingis's bid for a first singles title since returning to tennis with a clear 6-2 6-0 win in the Pan Pacific Open final yesterday.

"It was probably one Russian too many," smiled Hingis, who had beaten Maria Kirilenko and top seed Maria Sharapova en route to her first final in four comeback tournaments.

"It used to be two Williams sisters and a (Lindsay) Davenport. Now there's a whole army of Russians in the way.

"I'm not looking for excuses. I tried a lot of things but she always had a better answer."

Dementieva had beaten Hingis 6-3 6-1 in Filderstadt in October 2002 in what was the former world number one's last match before chronic ankle trouble forced her into early retirement.

Hingis returned to the game last month, reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals and winning the mixed doubles crown with India's Mahesh Bhupathi.

Dementieva suffered a shock first-round exit in Melbourne but the second seed had too much firepower for Hingis in Tokyo, ending her bid for a record fifth title in just 56 minutes.

Hingis's game unravelled as quickly as the "Swiss Miss" had destroyed Sharapova in the semi-finals, Dementieva picking her off from the baseline and making clever use of the lob.

The 25-year-old Hingis was unranked three weeks ago but climbed to 117th after her strong run in Melbourne.

Her ranking is still set to rise to just outside the top 50.

Dementieva picked up $196,900 for winning her fifth career title.