Hewitt and Hingis win in Australia

Hewitt was the Sydney International's defending champion

Lleyton Hewitt and Martina Hingis prepared for next week's Australian Open by claiming victory in the Adidas International tournament in Sydney.

Australian Hewitt comfortably brushed aside Swede Magnus Norman 6-4 6-1 to claim his seventh career title as he sent a warning to his Australian Open rivals.

"I've been getting better and better with each match that I've played over the last two weeks and it's nice to cap it off with a tournament win," said Hewitt.

"I felt like I'm really starting to hit the ball well and I think I can take a lot of confidence about beating a guy ranked number four in the world going into the Australian Open."

Hewitt won the competiton for the second year in succession after an 84 minute victory.

After the first nine games went with serve Norman was broken to love to fall a set down and then lost the first five games of the next.

The Swede did have a break point at 5-1 down, but hit a forehand wide.

The 19-year-old Hewitt, seeded second, retained the title on his first match point when Norman hit a backhand over the baseline.

Hingis resolve

Switzerland's Hingis broke a racquet in anger, but beat one of her biggest rivals in American Lindsay Davenport to win the event for the second time in five years.

World number one Hingis' frustration boiled over when she was hauled back from a set and break up in the second set.

Two points after double-faulting to lose her serve at 3-4 Hingis smashed her racquet on the ground and has given an automatic code violation warning.

Davenport took the next two games to level the match and was 3-1 up in the decider.

But the 20-year-old Hingis, who has not won a Grand Slam title for nearly two years and was beaten by the American in the final of the Australian Open last January, came back again.

She broke back for 2-3 and then broke again to love for 6-5, Davenport losing the game when she put the easiest of smashes into the net.

Hingis has lost only one match in her last eight tournaments and then served out for a 6-3 4-6 7-5 victory.