INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA, US - TOP-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic won the Pacific Life Open WTA title here on Sunday with a straight-sets victory over second-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Ivanovic, the Australian Open runner-up, used a fierce forehand to defeat Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3 and claim her sixth career title. It was her first triumph of 2008 and her fourth in 11 months.

'I think she played incredibly well in the first set,' Kuznetsova said.

'She served very good serves in.'

'She had an outstanding first set,' Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, added. 'She played better.'

Kuznetsova still stayed with Ivanovic until the ninth game, when the Serbian earned a break.

The Russian appeared to be momentarily distracted by the shouts of an Ivanovic supporter as she prepared to serve at 30-all.

She eventually surrendered that point with a forehand miss, and Ivanovic fired yet another forehand winner to claim the break and the chance to serve out the set, which she closed out with a love game.

Ivanovic gained the upper hand in the second set with a break in the third game. Although she immediately dropped her own serve, she broke twice more, zinging back a return winner on her second match point in the ninth game.

'I just tried to move into the court, and I think I did that well today,' Ivanovic said. 'We both started pretty well and I thought we played some good tennis.'

First-set break
To get her first-set break, Ivanovic said, she capitalised on a couple of second serves by Kuznetsova, and with the first set in her hands was able to attack with more confidence.

'For second set, I felt like more pressure because I had to go for it a little bit more,' Kuznetsova said. 'She was serving so much better. For her it was so much easier to win games on her serve than I did on mine.'

Ivanovic, 20, has now won five of her six meetings with Kuznetsova, with whom she has traded the second and third spots in the world rankings this year.

Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, was playing in her third final this year, and for the third time came away without a trophy.

The 22-year-old Russian has now lost eight of her last nine finals, her lone title in that span coming at New Haven last August.

'It's always painful to lose, but I prefer to get to the final than to lose in the second round,' Kuznetsova said. 'I'm not going to get down on myself. She played better.'

Ivanovic was cheered throughout by a rowdy gaggle of fans displaying Serbian flags in the bleachers at the top of the stadium.

Kuznetsova refused to comment on the fans, but as Ivanovic accepted the winner's trophy she thanked them for their support, but offered apologies for those overzealous supporters who called out during points. -- AFP