By Frank Malley, PA Chief Sports Writer

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Lleyton Hewitt is not a man renowned for his compassion on a tennis court.

So it was hardly surprising that the feistiest, most fearsome, some say the nastiest, tennis player in the world right now showed none on Sunday afternoon as he won his first Wimbledon crown with a 6-1 6-3 6-2 triumph over David Nalbandian in one of the most one-sided finals in the tournament's history.

At times Nalbandian's game was stripped as bare as the streaker who greeted the players after the first of two rain breaks - the exhibitionist vaulting the net and dodging security guards until a blanket was finally produced to hide his modesty before he was ushered away.

Nalbandian must have wished he could have joined him under that blanket so relentless was the work of Hewitt and so abject at times was the riposte of a man who was playing his first senior grass court tournament.

Yet there was no disgrace for Nalbandian. He had come further than ever he could have dreamed and if he never troubles the tennis paparazzi again then at least he has the memory of an astonishing fortnight in SW19.

By contrast, for Hewitt there was a more permanent place in history as the fourth Australian to win the famous gold trophy in the open era after Rod Laver, John Newcombe and then Pat Cash back in 1987.

And as he clambered up into the stands, Cash-style, to embrace and kiss the likes of coach Jason Stoltenberg, mum and dad and girlfriend Kim Clijsters, you had to wonder whether this was the man to dominate world tennis for the next decade.

Certainly there is no-one hungrier than the 21-year-old Aussie, no-one who can touch his phenomenal work ethic, no-one who even gets close to the fastest tennis legs on the planet.

"This is a real ripper," was Hewitt's verdict as he caressed the gold trophy and admitted that he was still coming to terms with the enormity of becoming the first man to win the US Open and Wimbledon titles back-to-back since Pete Sampras in 1997.

"I kept looking up at the scoreboard to see if it was real," said Hewitt after taking just one hour and 56 minutes of actual playing time to dispose of his inexperienced opponent.

"I saw Pat Cash do it 15 years ago and it means so much to me."

In contrast to the dynamic serving-and-volleying of Cash, Hewitt has triumphed with the game of a confirmed baseliner, a man willing to play all day and all night just to win a single point but who does so with such tenacity that his opponents usually snap long before he needs to take undue risk.

To underline the fact that this Wimbledon, with slower courts and even slower balls, has been a baseliner's paradise not one point in today's final was one by serve and volley - surely for the first time in the tournament's history.

As it was the match could not have started worse for Nalbandian, a double fault on his first point only betraying the nerves he must have felt on his first appearance on Centre Court.

At that moment as he blinked in bemusement around a packed arena the little-known 20-year-old must have wondered quite what he was doing in a Wimbledon final.

Twelve months ago he was playing Challenger tournaments in Holland and Italy. He had come to Wimbledon for the experience, telling his mum back in Argentina that he would be home before the first week was out.

Six matches later he was in the final and, by special dispensation because he had never set foot on the court before, he had been allowed a morning practice to familiarise himself with the most famous court in the world.

Hewitt, however, was never going to allow the new boy to settle. So it proved - Nalbandian taking 23 minutes to trouble the scoreboard and even that first hard-won game, the fifth of the match, coming after three deuces as the relentless Hewitt ran down every ball.

That first set passed in just 33 minutes of abject torture for the Argentinian, ending as it started with a double fault and so poor was his form, so desperate his prospects, that up in the commentary box Boris Becker could find only scant consolation, none of which was to do with his tennis.

"But at least he has a very beautiful girlfriend," observed Becker wryly as the cameras panned to Nalbandian's dark-haired Argentinian partner in the players' box.

Indeed, when Hewitt broke the Nalbandian service in the second game of the second set the statisticians were searching for the lowest number of games won in a Wimbledon men's singles final.

In the open era that stands at four by Jimmy Connors when he was demolished in straight sets by John McEnroe back in 1984.

There was every chance Nalbandian might have eclipsed that record until, to everyone's relief other than Hewitt, he began to demonstrate fleeting glimpses of the form which had carried him thus far.

Three superb lobs and a huge amount of scrambling allowed him to break the Hewitt service to get the second set back on track and when the second rain break came, with the score at 3-3 and 30-30 on the Hewitt serve, it was the Australian who was most relieved.

As with all champions, however, Hewitt has the capacity to raise his game in the manner Michael Schumacher slides easily through the Ferrari's gears.

That's exactly what happened, Hewitt finishing off his own service game and then breaking Nalbandian, a great scream of 'C'mon' accompanying a string of winners on the Aussie's increasingly fiery forehand.

So the second set was duly gathered and though the pair swapped service breaks at the beginning of the third set Hewitt's uncanny ability to find the right shot at the right time was always ominous.

That, of course, and the fact that Hewitt has the best legs, the strongest mind and the most competitive instinct in tennis. The end for the Argentinian came, in effect, at the end of the fifth game when Nalbandian's emotions were laid bare. He believed a Hewitt forehand was long, though it clearly hit the line as proved by television.

Nalbandian, however, threw down his racket and placed a ball six inches beyond the line in sarcastic protest. He might just as well have waved a white flag.

Three games later it was all over, Hewitt falling on his back in his trademark victory plunge and punching the sky before rising to whack a ball high into the stands in an aggressive outpouring of emotion.

"It was a unique final," said Hewitt. "Not the best tennis but different. But I played to win, you don't always have to play your best tennis."

At playing to win, Hewitt is just about the best in the business.