The American former world number one, who returned to the tour last month in Sydney after a foot injury, was in top form, hitting seven aces and winning nine free points off her serve to score a convincing 6-4, 6-1 victory.

"It's been a year since I won my last title, that was here," said Davenport, who was also the winner here in 1998, 2001 and last year.

"It's really a remarkable achievement to be able to be the champion four times and in the finals five times," she said.

"Obviously I played very well here. It's great anytime, for me -- (I'm) not winning as many titles as I used to. I'm really happy to get the year off by winning the title so early.

"I look forward to carrying over the play that I had this week to more tournaments," she said.

It was Davenport's fourth Tokyo indoor title, equalling the tournament record set by Martina Hingis of Switzerland.

She got off to a flying start, cashing in on a double break chance in the opening game and then keeping the next to move up 2-0.

But Maleeva retaliated with some fine angled shots to take the following three games in a row, breaking the fourth by hitting a pass to cause Davenport a forehand error at 15-40.

However that appeared to be Maleeva's final break opportunity as Davenport made it a lopsided affair in the remainder of the 58-minute match.

"At 2-0 I had a couple of break points to go two breaks up," Davenport said. "For the first time all week, I felt like I was giving away points, making a few errors.

"But the thing I did very well was I stayed calm, I went back to going for my shots, I just really believe that I can play well and it really paid off.

"Maggie is a great player, we had a lot of tough matches before, so I wanted to really try and play aggressive and go for my shots. The court here is very fast. That helped my ground strokes and service quite a bit."

"I was just trying to play like I did all week and not let Maggie dictate, trying to keep her behind the baseline," added the American, who was also the winner at the Tokyo outdoor in 1999.

With the win, which carries the top prize of 189,000 dollars, Davenport avenged her three-set loss against Maleeva in the 2002 Kremlin Cup final to square her record against the Bulgarian at three wins against three defeats.

It was her 39th career singles title, including her first major victory at the Atlanta Olympic Games as well as three Grand Slam wins at the 1998 US Open, the 1999 Wimbledon and the 2000 Australian Open.

Maleeva failed to follow her elder sister Manuela's victories in the inaugural 1984 and 1985 tournaments, but she appeared satisfied with her performance this week.

"Generally, she was just too good," Maleeva said. "When she is on, it's very tough to play her, because her ball is so deep and she hits the ball so clean, and she serves well."

"I did pretty well, I played everything I wanted to play... everytime I tried to play the point, I did not miss, I did that, so I have no regret," she said.