Del Potro overpowers Tomic in Sydney final

SYDNEY, Jan 11, 2014 (AFP) - Juan Martin del Potro bludgeoned Bernard Tomic with his powerful forehand to win the Sydney International final on Saturday.

The Argentine world number five took just 53 minutes to put away the Australian defending champion 6-3, 6-1.

It was del Potro's 18th career title and he became the first Argentine to win in Sydney since David Nalbandian in 2009.

It was the ideal lead in to Monday's Australian Open for del Potro, who plays a qualifier in the first round and is seeded to face world number one Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals.

The big Argentine served eight aces and broke Tomic's serve four times for a comprehensive win.

It was del Potro's second win over the 52nd-ranked Tomic, who was defending his title after beating South African Kevin Anderson in last year's final.

Tomic will have to regroup after the lopsided final to prepare for his big first round encounter with Nadal at the Australian Open on Tuesday.

Del Potro dominated the final, breaking the 21-year-old Australian in the seventh and ninth games of the first set.

He dictated the play from the baseline and his booming forehands gave Tomic no chance as he broke the Australian twice more in the fourth and sixth games of the second set.

He sealed his victory with an ace.