SYDNEY: Svetlana Kuznetsova rolled back the years with a ruthless 6-0 6-2 demolition of Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig to win her 16th WTA title at the Sydney International on Friday.

In 55 minutes of one-sided tennis, the 30-year-old former French and US Open champion showed that her rivals should not take her lightly at next week's Australian Open, despite her current lowly ranking.

Kuznetsova's performance was all the more impressive given the Russian had already spent more than two hours on the court earlier on Friday completing her semi-final tussle with world number two Simona Halep, finally winning out 7-6(5) 4-6 6-3.

While that match, held over from Thursday after a thunderstorm wreaked havoc with the schedule at Olympic Park, was a hard-fought battle, the same could not be said of the final clash on Ken Rosewall Arena.