Martina Hingis broke a racquet in anger, but beat her biggest rival Lindsay Davenport to win the adidas International in Sydney today.

In the 22nd meeting between the two - Davenport still leads 12-10 - the world number one's frustration boiled over when she was hauled back from a set up and a break up in the second set.

Two points after double-faulting to lose her serve at 3-4 Hingis smashed her racquet on the ground and has given an automatic code violation warning.

Davenport took the next two games as well to level the match and was 3-1 up in the decider.

But the 20-year-old Swiss player, who has not won a Grand Slam title for nearly two years and was beaten by the American in the final of the Australian Open last January, came back again.

She broke back for 2-3 and then broke again to love for 6-5, Davenport losing the game when she put the easiest of smashes into the net.

Hingis, who has lost only one match in her last eight tournaments, then served out for a 6-3 4-6 7-5 victory.

Nineteen-year-old Australian Lleyton Hewitt retained the men's title, meanwhile, by crushing top seed Magnus Norman surprisingly easily 6-4 6-1.

After the first nine games went with serve Norman was broken to love to fall a set down and then lost the first five games of the next.

The Swede did have a break point at 5-1 down, but hit a forehand wide and 19-year-old Australian, seeded second, retained the title on his first match point when Norman hit a backhand over the baseline.

Hewitt will again go into the Australian Open with high hopes after his seventh tournament victory. Only five teenagers have ever won more, led by Bjorn Borg with an astonishing 16.

"I've been getting better with every match in the last two weeks and it's nice to cap it off with a win," he said after telling the crowd how glad he was to be back on home ground after having people "booing me and throwing things at me" whenever he went on court in the Davis Cup final in Barcelona in November.

The Adelaide player, whose last success was at Queen's the week before Wimbledon, goes to Melbourne as the seventh seed and his victory over Norman can only help his confidence as it was the world No 4 who knocked him out in the fourth round last January.

"I think I'm definitely hitting the ball better than I was then and Magnus didn't play as well here. But a Grand Slam is different." More sets, more pressure.

They are seeded to clash again in the quarter-finals, but Hewitt has a hugely tough task just to get that far.

For openers he faces Norman's fellow countryman Jonas Bjorkman, a semi-finalist in Sydney, then it could be rising German star Tommy Haas, who beat Hewitt en route to winning the Adelaide tournament last week, and after that it could be former world number one Marcelo Rios in the third round.

Hewitt does not consider being the local hope to be an added burden.

"I think guys in the past have struggled playing in Australia just because of the weight of expectations. But I don't really feel that.

"The courts and the climate suit me and I have the crowd on my side. There are so many bonuses."

Norman, who went on to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open last year and was runner-up at the French Open, believes he paid the price for his punishing semi-final with Bjorkman, played in 100-degree heat.

"I was sick for three weeks at the end of last year and I'm just trying to catch up," he said. "My legs were not moving well and my mind was not there.

"But I think my game's coming together and that both Lleyton and I are in good shape and ready to have a good tournament. This is not a major setback - I feel as ready as I can be."

Hingis said: "I got frustrated because I thought it might slip away and I just didn't want that to happen.

"I didn't even hit the racquet hard and I've never broken one that was totally crushed like that.

"But Marat Safin breaks like 48 racquets a year, so I'm not quite at that level yet.

"I'm happy I won and I feel very good about the Australian Open. Since the US Open I've only lost one match."

That was against Davenport in the final of the Philadelphia tournament.