MONTREAL (Ticker) - Amelie Mauresmo of France made absolutely sure she would not become the fifth seeded player to fall to unseeded Russian Elena Likhovtseva at the Rogers Cup.
The second-seeded Mauresmo crushed Likhovtseva, 6-1, 6-0, on Sunday to win the $1.3 million hardcourt event for the second time in three years.
Likhovtseva had defeated No. 8 Nadia Petrova of Russia in the second round, No. 11 Francesca Schiavone of Italy in the third round, No. 5 Jennifer Capriati of the U.S. in the quarterfinals and No. 3 Anastasia Myskina of Russia in the semifinals.
Mauresmo, who became the favorite here when top-seeded Serena Williams was forced to withdraw with to a knee injury, needed just 51 minutes to win her third title of the year and first on hard courts. In May, Mauresmo won both the German Open and Italian Masters on clay.
In this one, both players got in two-thirds of their first serves but Likhovtseva won just 37 percent (11-of-30) of the points on her first serve while Mauresmo won 72 percent (21-of-29). Mauresmo claimed her 13th career title and will jump to a career-best second in the world when the new WTA rankings are released Monday.
The Frenchwoman had to survive three three-set matches this week but was dominant Sunday, winning the final 11 games. She improved to 5-5 lifetime in Tier I finals and 41-7 overall this year.
Likhovtseva, playing in her first Tier I final, was aiming for her first title of the season and fourth career.