Kim Clijsters earned the victory which few of the crowd wanted as the Flemish-speaking Belgian destroyed France's own Mary Pierce in the final of the Open Gaz de France.

The top-seeded Clijsters rolled to a 6-2 6-1 victory in just 58 minutes at the Paris-hosted tournament.

In doing so, the 20-year-old became the 20th woman in the Open era to win 20 singles titles.

She improved to 10-1 this season, with the only loss coming to countrywoman Justine Henin-Hardenne in the final of the Australian Open.

Pierce was appearing in her first singles final since 2000, when she won at Roland Garros.

But the Frenchwoman could not contend with Clijsters on Sunday.

"The only thing I could have done better today was probably get a few more first serves in," said Clijsters.

"But my second serve was working really well and that's important against Mary because you can't give her a chance to get set and hit her groundstrokes."

Pierce, who has won 15 career titles in an injury-blighted career, said: "I'm disappointed that I didn't play better today, but a lot of that was down to how Kim played.

"I'm pleased in getting to the final of my first tournament of the year and look forward to having more good results in the week and months ahead."