Hewitt raced through the opening set in 33 minutes, converting on all three of his break point chances and dropping just one service game when Grosjean fought back to 4-3.

He continually sent Grosjean scrambling into the corners, forcing the 23-year-old Frenchman to come to the net or shoot for low-percentage winners to get back into the match.

In all, Grosjean fired 31 winners to Hewitt's 12, but he also produced 47 unforced errors while the Australian had only 19 unforced errors.

Hewitt saved two break points in the eighth game of the third set and then wasted three break points in the next game.

But he was convincing in the last game, serving out at love when Grosjean sent three consecutive returns long.

The Australian's 2001 season began and ended with victories in Sydney - and his run to the title in Sydney began and ended with successes over Grosjean.

In between, he captured his first Grand Slam crown at the US Open and became the youngest player ever to top the world rankings.

Hewitt defeated the diminutive Frenchman on Monday in a tight round robin match but had little difficulty in the final.

A winner of 22 of his final 24 matches, Hewitt claimed his sixth tournament of the year.

He began the season by winning the Adidas International in Australia and added titles in England, the Netherlands, the United States and Japan.

This was his 12th career tournament title.

Hewitt became the first undefeated champion at this year-end event since Germany's Michael Stich won the 1993 ATP World Championship in Frankfurt.