After struggling for much of the AIG Japan Open, Roger Federer breezed past Tim Henman in the final.

The world's top player easily defeated Henman, 6-3 6-3, for his 42nd career title.

Federer had looked shaky against obscure players Viktor Troicki and Takao Suzuki this week but was at his best in the final as he beat the Brit in straight sets for the sixth consecutive time to grab a 7-6 lead in their all-time series.

The Swiss maestro, who also beat Henman at Wimbledon and the US Open this year, is a staggering 231-15 since the start of 2004, winning 31 of his 46 events.

Henman stayed close early on before Federer won three of the last four games of the first set.

The second set got off to a similar start as Henman battled but Federer proved too strong and clinched his ninth title of the year.

"I was surprised because I had jet-lag," Federer said.

"To always keep winning is a very difficult thing to do. To come here right away and win the tournament is fantastic."

Playing for the first time in Japan, and his first tournament since winning last month's US Open, Federer improved his finals record to 42-13 and his 2006 record to 77-5.

Henman, in his first final since losing to Federer at Indian Wells in March 2004, won the last of his 11 career titles at the Paris Masters in November 2003.

Despite the defeat, Henman was satisfied with his week's work after reaching the final without dropping a set.

"Last week in Bangkok I played some good tennis and this week I was able to build on that," Henman said.

"I've had some good wins against higher ranked players in both tournaments and, here in Tokyo, I was able to get stuck into the event and I put in some really good performances throughout the week.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go the whole way.

Roger was too strong for me and he's a phenomenal player - there's very few that can live with him on any surface other than clay at the moment.

"It's difficult to hurt him as he's got so many strengths and so few weaknesses and, the scary thing is, he's still improving."

In the women's draw, top seed Marion Bartoli rallied for a 2-6 6-2 6-2 win over local wild card Aiko Nakamura for her second career title.

Bartoli, who turned 22 on Monday, was playing in her third final this year, winning her first title at Auckland in January.

"This was my best birthday week ever," she said.

Nakamura, who was playing in her first final, had never met the Frenchwoman previously.

"Aiko was well-prepared and moving fast, especially in the first set," Bartoli said.

"I tried to make her run more in the second set, and she looked more and more tired.

"Good first serves were the key to my victory today. I was able to play aggressively. I was able to take advantage of her second serves as well."

This was a historic final as both players played with two hands from both sides, a first on the WTA Tour.