BRISBANE  - Estonia's Kaia Kanepi produced a stunning display of attacking tennis to blitz Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova and win the Brisbane International on Saturday.
Kanepi, ranked 34th, was in irresistible form as she destroyed her opponent, ranked ten places above her, 6-2, 6-1 in 74 minutes in the Pat Rafter Arena. The 26-year-old Kanepi overpowered Hantuchova with the ferocity of her groundstrokes, her backhand particularly damaging throughout.
And while her serve was not as effective as in previous rounds, she still did not face a single break point during the final. Kanepi broke Hantuchova twice in the first set as her fierce returns placed enormous pressure on the Slovakian, and when she raced away to a 4-0 lead in the second the final was as good as over.
Hantuchova went out fighting however and managed to save three match points, but on the fourth a tired looking backhand into the net gave the Estonian the title. Kanepi went into the match on the back of an impressive semi-final defeat of third seed Francesca Schiavone, where she dropped just three games. The Estonian also  knocked out second seed Andrea Petkovic in the quarters and seventh ranked Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round. Ironically, her toughest match came in the first round when she took three sets to defeat Russian qualifier Alexandra Panova. The win gives Kanepi her second title on the WTA tour, her first coming in Palermo in 2010.