MELBOURNE. Feb 1: Martina Hingis beat Conchita Martinez in straight sets In the Australian Open women's final today to become the youngest player to successfully defend a Grand Slam title, reports AFP.

The 17-year-old world number one from Switzerland beat the 11th ranked Spaniard 6-3. 6-3 in 86 minutes to capture the fourth major of her short but spectacular career.

Hingis dominated Martinez from the first game, when she broke the 25-year-old Spaniard's service, to the last when Martinez put a backhand shot wide to again lose her serve.

Hingis insisted, though, this was the most difficult and most satisfying of her four majors.

"It was very different. A lot harder than last year because there were so many different expectations of me and pressure. especially from myself because I really wanted to defend the title." she said.

'The draw was a lot harder and it was not very easy for me to get through." added the champion, who still only dropped two sets in seven matches.

Hingis picked up the 385,000 US dollars winner's cheque at the age of 17 years four months and one day, 65 days younger than when American Monica Seles retained her French Open

title in 1991.

She was already the youngest winner of Wimbledon last year and legendary status beckons if she can win all four titles this year.

"1 have the first one." Hingis told a press conference, "it would be great if I could do it." Only Steffi Graf (1988). Margaret Court (1970) and Maureen Connolly (1938) have achieved the four title sweep.

Last year she won the Australian Open. Wimbledon and US Open and was a beaten finalist at the French Open.

Martinez, the 1994 Wimbledon champion who had a bad 1997 without a title for the first time in a decade, broke back straight away and then tried to slow down the pace to counter Hingis's deadly accuracy.

"She would just keep the ball very low from the backhand, just slicing it back all the time, and she just had so much spin on every ball that I had to do all the work myself.

"What I had to do today was be patient, wait for everything." said Hingis.

Martinez risked everything on heavy spin, hoping to tempt Hingis into a mistake that she could punish with a backup blast from the baseline.

But Die Spaniard made more errors which were seized upon by Hingis, who broke five Martinez service games while keeping up a brilliant 75 per cent success rate with her own

Hingis had two set points in the eighth game but Martinez held after four deuces, leaving the Swiss' teenager to serve out to go one-up.

Hingis broke the Martinez serve for a third time in the opening game of the second set but again lost her own in the second.

The Spaniard applied her most intense pressure in the fourth game with Hingis serving. The longest rally of the match, when both had to race from one side of the court to the other, ended with Hingis leaning on her racquet to rest and Martinez calling for a towel.

Martinez did not recover. She clawed back one match point before going down, again on her own serve.

Martinez is another who believes Hingis is on course to become one of the game's big names.

"I think she is a great player and if she keeps going on winning like this, why not?"

Hingis, who also won the women's doubles title on Friday. will play in the Tokyo tournament next week — when Graf will again be absent. But Hingis said she will take more time off in between tournaments as she attempts to become the youngest Grand Slam winner.

"I definitely played too much last year at the end of the year," she said.