By Chris Davies
January 11 2004

Top seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan beat second seed Nadia Petrova of Russia in a tough 3 set battle to secure her 6th WTA career title at the Uncle Toby's Hardcourts, Gold Coast This is the second time the petite Japanse woman has won the title after first winning back in 1998 but things didn't get off to a good start for Sugiyama.

The tall Russian romped through the first set 6-1 before suffering a thigh muscle straing during the second set allowing Sugiyama to claim a 6-1 second set and take the match into a third and deciding set.

Final set was extremely close with either player looking to capture the title but clearly Petrova's injury wasn't helping matters as Sugiyama sealed a 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory.