Brisbane, Australia – Kaia Kanepi of Estonia rolled to a set win over Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova to capture the WTA's opening Brisbane International.
Kanepi, who beat three seeded players en route to the final, claimed her second career WTA title with a 6-2, 6-1 victory on Saturday. Her only other tournament crown came in 2010 at Palermo.
"I think I haven't really realized what I have done and how I have played and who I have beaten and then what score," said Kanepi, who previously knocked off seventh-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round and took out second-seeded Andrea Petkovic in the quarterfinals before Friday's 55-minute thrashing of third-seeded Francesca Schiavone.
Kanepi dropped just 16 games over her last four matches, winning each in straight sets.
"I think it doesn't happen too often in some tournaments that I won the matches with the score I did," Kanepi noted. "So it just was my week and I played really well and I hope to continue and improve, but I have to be ready because the history has shown that nothing comes easy for me, so I have to continue working hard."
Kanepi will move from 34th in the world to No. 26, which will likely make her one of the top 32 seeds for the Australian Open, which starts January 16. The seeds for the year's first major will be announced in the next few days.
Hantuchova had never lost to Kanepi in three previous matches, but the two hadn't met since the summer of 2010 in New Haven and Saturday's final was virtually no contest.
Kanepi trailed 1-2 in the first set before ripping off nine straight games to take complete control. Hantuchova finally broke the string in the fifth game of the second set, but Kanepi quickly regrouped and won the next two. She finished the match on her fourth championship point.
"[She] didn't give me too many chances," Hantuchova said about Kanepi. "I tried to find a way, but it just didn't work today. She was better in all the departments of the game and really deserved to win."
Hantuchova fell to 4-9 all-time in WTA finals. She advanced to the title match thanks to a pair of injuries to other players. Serena Williams withdrew before their scheduled quarterfinal match because of an ankle problem and Kim Clijsters, after winning the first set, retired in the semifinal because of a hip issue.
Saturday's victory was worth a first-prize of $110,000 for Kanepi.
