Sixty minutes

TOP SEED Lleyton Hewitt needed just an hour to beat Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten 6-1, 6-1 to retain his Pacific Life Open title in California. Hewitt outplayed Kuerten, making just 10 unforced errors to the Brazilian's 30, while hitting 19 winners.

Former world No 1 Kuerten had already spent time on court, beating Germany's Rainer Schuettler 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the completion of their rain-delayed semi-final.

Hewitt broke the three-time French Open champion five times in the match and was never bothered by Kuerten's ground-stroke game.

The reigning Australian champion had too much of everything for Kuerten, his court coverage and enthusiasm being just some of the qualities which made the match one-sided. Hewitt became the first back-to-back winner at Indian Wells since Michael Chang successfully defended his title in 1997. Hewitt has now won 12 consecutive matches, which include a singles match in Australia's Davis Cup tie against Britain, and has a 15-1 record in 2003. His only loss was to Morocco's Younes Al-Aynaoui in the fourth round of the Australian Open.

Kuerten had earlier closed out his match with Schuettler with a backhand return down the line in the eighth game of the third set. He and Schuettler played for 35 minutes on Saturday before their match was suspended because of rain with Kuerten leading 6-2, 0-1. But Australian Open runner-up Schuettler battled back on Sunday to capture the second set. However, Kuerten seized command in the third, grabbing a 3-0 lead and denying Schuettler any chance to rally.

Kim Clijsters overcame Lindsay Davenport 6-4, 7-5 to win the Indian Wells crown, her second WTA singles title of 2003. The Belgian top seed overpowered Davenport with powerful baseline shots, exhausting her with cross- court rallies during the one-hour, 26-minute match.

Clijsters, who collected $332,000 for her 12th WTA career singles title, spoiled the American's hopes of becoming the event's first three-time champion. "I didn't start well at the beginning of both sets but I ended them well," Clijsters said. "I raised my game during the matches and that was how I won. Even if the tennis is not good, you have to keep fighting. I was down a break in the first and second set so I knew I had to keep moving well."

The 19-year-old broke Davenport's serve five times, kept her serve at 70 per cent and hammered 24 winners in total. The fourth seed struggled with her serve throughout, making 10 double faults. She also hit 36 unforced errors.

"I am going to have to work on my serve more to make it more consistent and more of a weapon," Davenport admitted.

Clijsters, right, won a poor first set in which both players struggled, but she broke Davenport three times, winning five of the last six games. The second set was almost a repeat of the first, with Davenport jumping out to another early lead by breaking Clijsters in the third game. But Davenport double faulted on the final point of the sixth to allow Clijsters back in it at 3-3. The American survived a match point in the 10th game of the second set before Clijsters closed it out two games later when Davenport's forehand sailed wide.