Ana Ivanovic did not mind having to wait an extra day to play her first Tier I final as the 13th seed routed Martina Hingis 6-2 6-3 on Monday to win the Rogers Cup in Montreal.
The match was supposed to have been held on Sunday but was pushed back a day due to rain.
It was the second career WTA Tour title for the 18-year-old Serb, who won a Tier IV event in Canberra, Australia, in January 2005. By contrast, the 25-year-old Hingis has won five Grand Slam events and 41 career titles.
'This gives me some more confidence and basically now I can also consider myself being one of the top players, and that's a big step for me,' said Ivanovic, who was meeting Hingis for the first time.
'I'm just really happy, and that gives me motivation to work even harder and to keep this level and to even improve.'
Winner in Montreal in 1999 and 2000, Hingis missed more than three years with ankle and foot injuries before returning to the WTA Tour at the beginning of the season.
The 'Swiss Miss' lost to Elena Dementieva in the final of the indoor event in Tokyo in February before winning the prestigious claycourt tournament in Rome in May by besting Dinara Safina.
But Hingis never looked comfortable against Ivanovic, who broke the veteran in the first game of the match and remained in front thereafter. Ivanovic converted four of nine break chances and never faced one on her serve.
'I don't want to see (Ivanovic) too close in my draw when I play in the US Open,' said Hingis.
Still, Hingis will rise to ninth in the world rankings, entering the top 10 for the first time since 2002.
She will bump out Lindsay Davenport, meaning for the first time since the inception of the computer rankings in 1975 that an American woman will not be in the top 10.
'Obviously you have to take all the positive things about being in the finals like here in Montreal,'
Hingis added: 'But you also have to keep realistic. If you really want to win Grand Slams or stay where you're at, in the top 10, which is my goal, you have to make those things happen over and over again.'
