World no 1 Martina Hingis put Australian Open defeat behind her to win her first title of 2000 at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.

The Swiss top seed overcame a late fightback to beat France's Sandrine Testud 6-3 7-5 in Sunday's final.

Both players let numerous chances to dominate play slip away but it was Hingis who made the fewer errors.

Typically, she took the first set by taking advantage of small mistakes by Testud and hitting dazzling winners.

Testud was first broken after making two unforced errors in the sixth game of the first set, as Hingis gathered momentum.

This pattern continued through the second as Hignis broke twice to lead 5-2, and served for the match.

But Hingis then suffered a complete breakdown of her service game while Testud played go-for-broke tennis to level the score at 5-5.

Yet just as the French woman looked set to take the match into a deciding set, Hingis recovered and swiftly regained her advantage.

"My serve totally fell apart," she admitted afterwards.

"The serve was like going everywhere. I have never missed by that far."

Hingis said she was pleased with her start to the season despite only reaching the semifinals in Sydney before the Australian Open, where she lost to Lindsey Davenport in the final.

World no 15 Testud has lost all eight of her matches against Hingis, including a match in Melbourne last month.

"I had to try to play more aggressively than I usually do and I made more mistakes," Testud said.

The win gave Hingis her 27th tour singles title and helped her to stretch her lead in the world rankings over Davenport.

The American was forced to withdraw from the Pan Pacific because of a thigh injury.