Justine Henin claimed her second Grand Slam title of the season with a comfortable victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova in the US Open women's singles final in New York.

The Belgian world number one and top seed, who was victorious at Flushing Meadows in 2003, followed up her French Open success in June with a seventh career Grand Slam win when she brushed aside the fourth-seeded Russian 6-1 6-3 in one hour and 22 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The victory also ensured Henin would finish the championship without having dropped a set, a feat that included victories over both Williams sisters, Serena and Venus.

Henin celebrated by clambering through the crowds and up to the players' guest box where she embraced her coach Carlos Rodriguez before collecting a first prize of £690,000.

Kuznetsova, who followed Henin as the US Open title-holder in 2004, had grounds for optimism, the 22-year-old Russian having won the New Haven title in the week before the Open and coming into the match on a 10-match winning streak that will result in her climbing to a career-high number two in the world rankings on Monday.

Yet without playing her strongest tennis and with a first service percentage for the match of just 52%, it was Henin, 25, who prevailed.

She took control from the start, breaking the Kuznetsova serve in the opening game of the match and repeating the feat in the third game to take a 3-0 lead.

There was a wobble in the fourth game when the Belgian served two double faults and a subsequent unforced error gifted Kuznetsova a way back into the set with a break point.

The Russian failed to take advantage, and Henin punished her for it, delivering a second-serve ace to take the game.

Kuznetsova finally got on the scoreboard when she held serve in the fifth game but it proved to be merely a blip for Henin, who won the next two games to wrap up the set in 33 minutes.

To her credit, Kuznetsova did not appear downhearted by the first-set drubbing and hung in with Henin as the second set got under way although the number of unforced errors continued to limit her ability to make inroads into the top seed's advantage.

The lengthy fourth game of the set proved the breaking point, however, as Kuznetsova created game points only to blow the decisive play with sloppy shotmaking. Again, Henin made the most of the opportunity presented her, breaking serve after the seventh deuce of the game and signalling her delight shrieking "Allez!" as she moved into a 3-1 lead.

The Russian had a break point in the next game but lost out again as Henin turned the screw at the crucial moment and the match started to take on the look of a rout.

Kuznetsova showed some fight as she served to save the match at 5-2 in the second set, winning the game to love, but merely delaying the inevitable in a disappointing spectacle that had promised a much closer contest.

And there was hope for the number four as Henin showed signs of nerves with two double faults, the first of them coming after a spectator let out a yell between the Belgian's first and second serves.

Kuznetsova earned a break point only to lose it with a weak forehand out wide and then Henin committed her seventh double fault of the match to give her rival another break point.

Yet again, the Russian was unable to close out the game and Henin moved to championship point on another error, finishing the match with a drop shot to pull in her rival before lobbing Kuznetsova for victory.

Afterwards, Henin said her seventh grand slam title was arguably the best of her career so far.

"This one is maybe the most important one," she said. "The quality I've played in the last couple of weeks has been amazing and it's just a great feeling because I had a tough draw.

"I had a lot of things to prove myself, not to anyone else, and I did it."

Kuznetsova admitted a below-par performance was to blame for her defeat.

"I didn't play my best game so that's why I lost," she said.

"With these players you just have so few opportunities.

"If you don't use them there's no way I'm going to win.

"I had so many of them. I felt I just didn't move to the ball well enough because I was pretty tight."

Nevertheless, the Russian still found the loss hard to take.

"It's very tough," Kuznetsova added.

"I think the match was much closer than the score for sure.

"I've said it before but Justine's number one. When she plays her best game I have to play my best game.

"So I think I've got to learn a lot from this final and just improve."