Davenport sees off battling Henin

Henin battled hard but Davenport was too strong

Lindsay Davenport used her considerable experience to defeat a combative Justine Henin in straight sets in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix in Germany.

The American endured the odd blip before sealing a 7-5 6-4 victory against this year's Wimbledon runner-up.

I play my best tennis indoors and I'm relieved to finally win here

Lindsay Davenport

Sixth seed Henin saved three match points to put some doubts in Davenport's mind, before the statuesque third seed fired a service winner to end the 92-minute contest.

The 25-year-old Davenport made the first major move in the seventh game of the first set before Henin broke back two games later.

But the Belgian teenager showed her inexperience by dropping serve immediately and Davenport captured the first set with a backhand winner.

Davenport broke Henin again straight away in the second set and held her serve to move into a 5-3 lead, from where she eventually completed her victory.

She has an unbelievable backhand and I tried more for her forehand side

Lindsay Davenport

The new champion had advanced to the final when top seed Martina Hingis retired with a sprained ankle after three games in their semi-final on Saturday.

The injury to the Swiss player means that she will be overtaken by American Jennifer Capriati at number one when the latest WTA rankings are released on Monday.

Davenport has now won five titles this year and extended her record against the 19-year-old Henin to four wins and no defeats.