Belinda Bencic will re-enter the world's top 10 and next week's Australian Open with surging confidence after annihilating the higher-ranked Daria Kasatkina in the Adelaide International 2 final.
The Swiss world No.13 took barely an hour to claim the honours on Saturday, cruising to a 6-0 6-2 win against the world No.8.
It was the seventh WTA title for the former world No.4 and 2021 Adelaide finalist, who will surely enter Melbourne Park among the favourites given the statement made at Memorial Drive this week.
Bencic converted five of her seven break points and won almost double the amount of points than the Russian, who had been impressive in reaching the semi-finals before both women enjoyed walkovers to progress to the decider.
Bencic is projected to return to No.10 in Monday's updated rankings, her first appearance in the top 10 since September 2020.
It was the first silverware for the reigning Olympic champion under new coach Dmitry Tursunov.
"It's our first title together, sure it's not the last one, I feel like we're just starting so thanks a lot," Bencic said.
Kasatkina was upbeat despite the one-sided loss.
"Congratulations to Belinda. You've done great this week and wish you good luck (at the Australian Open)," she said.
"It's special to start playing against you in the juniors and continue in the finals; it's a great story and I hope this is not our last final."
