Martina Hingis capped her remarkable return to tennis after a three-year retirement as she overcame late resistance from Dinara Safina to win the Rome Masters 6-2, 7-5 here Sunday.
The Swiss former world number one, who began the season with no ranking after suddenly reversing her 2002 decision to quit the game due to foot and ankle injuries, will move well inside the Top 20 as a result of her resounding success.
Hingis won the title here in 1998 over Venus Williams.
She had troubles in closing out victory from a 4-1 lead, as Safina fought back to level at five-all, before the Swiss broke for 6-5. Hingis finally claimed victory after saving three break points to emerge the champion after one hour, 26 minutes.
Hingis joins a short-list of multiple champions at the Foro Italico after her routine thrashing of the Russian, who had produced the best week of her career at the venue. Safina, seeded 16th, had knocked out former champion Kim Clijsters in the third round and followed up with upsets of seeded compatriots Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Hingis, 25, claimed the 41st singles title of a career which began with five Grand Slam crowns all earned as a teenager. She is expected to reach a ranking of around 14th according to WTA estimates after lifting her first title since 2002.
Hingis lost the Tokyo Tier I final to Dementieva in February, a week after achieving an Australian Open quarter-final. She now stands 21-3 since returning to the game in January.
Hingis, who dropped her first seven games in Saturday's semi-final comeback against long-time rival Williams, reversed that costly trend against Safina, racing to 5-0 in the first set.
Safina's defeat prevented Russian women from sweeping trophies in the first six of the elite Tier I events played so far this season.
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