Tennis: Hingis warms up nicely for Australian Open

Martina Hingis rediscovered her winning touch by clinching the adidas International title in Sydney.

She retained the trophy she won last year with a 6-2 6-3 victory over eighth seed Meghann Shaughnessy, her first title in 11 months.

In her first tournament back after three months off with an ankle injury, Hingis said winning had exceeded even her expectations.

Now she's hopeful of a first Grand Slam title since the 1999 Australian Open, which was her third in a row at Melbourne Park.

"It's more than I expected at first, it gives me confidence going into the Aussie Open," said the 21-year-old Swiss. "I'm here, I'm ready and I'm back."

For Hingis, it was a third win at the Australian Open warm-up event in six years.

The injury-enforced break "gave me time to rest and relax my mind as well," she said. "It's nice being back out there now with the best and competing with everyone."

The draw for the Australian Open threw up a tricky path to the final for Hingis, who will have to beat Serena Williams, Venus Williams and defending champion Jennifer Capriati to win.

She beat the Williams sisters in consecutive matches last year before losing the decider to Capriati.

"I think I surprised everyone by coming back and winning this tournament, but I surprised myself the most," she said. "I feel good - it was a legendary day.

"It's great to come back after having surgery, to win straight away, it exceeded my expectations."

Hingis withdrew from Friday's doubles final after suffering heat illness and aching in her legs during her singles semi-final win over Kim Clijsters - her 500th career singles win.

But she showed no signs of pain in the final, dominating at the net and hitting 22 winners to eight overall.

"I've had a good week but I'd have liked it to be a little bit better," Shaughnessy said. "I got to play a lot of matches, which is a positive before a Grand Slam."

The match was all over in 58 minutes when Shaughnessy sent a backhand long to give Hingis match point and then dumped her next backhand into the net.