09 February 2004	Monday	17 Zilhaj 1424

TOKYO, Feb 8: Defending champion Lindsay Davenport pulverised Bulgaria's Magdalena Maleeva 6-4 6-1 to win her fourth Pan Pacific Open title on Sunday. The American took just 58 minutes to brush aside Maleeva, extending her winning streak at the Tokyo tournament to 12 matches since 2001.

There were swathes of empty seats at the indoor arena following top seed Venus Williams's withdrawal with a leg muscle strain on Friday. The second seed seized control of the match in the seventh game of the first set, breaking Maleeva to take a 4-3 lead with a crunching forehand pass.

Davenport gained a double break for a 4-1 lead in the second set with an emphatic overhead smash to demoralise Maleeva, who had reached the final after fifth seed Chanda Rubin pulled out before their semifinal with a knee injury.

The victory was Davenport's 39th career title and ninth at a tier one tournament - the top nine WTA Tour events second in prestige only to the four grand slams - to equal Monica Seles and Conchita Martinez in first place among active players.

Davenport, a quarter-finalist at last month's Australian Open, earned $189,000 for her fourth victory in five Pan Pacific Open finals - the 27-year-old lost to Japan's Kimiko Date on her first visit in 1995. Martina Hingis was the only other player to win the title four times. -Reuters