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erbia’s Ana Ivanovic continued her comeback Sunday by sweeping aside Russian Alisa Kleybanova to win the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions and return to the world’s top 20.

Ivanovic, who turned 23 Saturday, showed her regained confidence in the 6-2, 7-6 (5) triumph in 1:46 on the fast indoor court at the Westin Convention Center.

It was the second title in six weeks for the Serbian, who triumphed in Linz in October, and 10th in her career after a two-year championship drought due to injuries and poor form after winning the French Open and becoming world number one in 2008.

Her ranking will rise to 17 on Monday from its current 24 to end the 2010 season. She was ranked 65 at mid-year.

“It’s a big step for me to be back in the top 20, it was my goal. The last few months have been very exciting,” said Ivanovic, who has been working with fitness trainer Mirjana Locanica since mid-year and also has tried to focus on letting go of the pressures of the game to enjoy life more.

Her improved fitness and attitude showed Sunday, when she darted around the court and turned defense into offense to subdue the powerful game of Kleybanova, the 21-year-old champion of Kuala Lumpur and Seoul this year who had crushed 2009 Bali champion Aravane Rezai on Thursday.

Ivanovic, who had won their last two encounters in straight sets, looked headed for another easy victory as she raced throught the first set in only 17 minutes. It was not that Kleybanova was playing badly — “I did everything I could,” she said later — but that her opponent was in superb form.

She chased down the Russian’s powerful flat groundstrokes, crouched low to hit slice one-handed backhands and slammed down six aces in a peerless display. From 4-3, Ivanovic took 13 points in a row, including winning the first set with a wrongfooting crosscourt forehand.

But Kleybanova is a fighter, lunging and hurling herself around the court and punctuating every shot with a moan of effort. She held for 1-1, and then broke for 2-1 to go ahead for the first time in the match. Ivanovic herself produced more inspired play in the next game, including a lob that kissed the baseline and left the Russian flatfooted. She broke back for 2-all with a scorching backhand down the line.

The excitement rose, with the Serbian serving consecutive aces of 187 and 186 kilometers per hour at 3-all. There was a spectacular demonstration of power tennis in a series of rallies at 5-all. Although Kleybanova held two break points, Ivanovic drew on all her skills and that newly regained confidence to hold her ground.

She served an ace of 186 kilometers per hour, and was helped by a netcord that dribbled over and died on Kleybanova’s side of the court.

In the tiebreak, the Serbian held three matchpoints at 6-3; on the third, she calmly served an ace that Hawkeye showed clipped the back of the service line.

“It’s amazing, I’m really happy,” said Ivanovic, who won US$210,000. “We both played really great from the first point.”

“I played good, nothing went wrong, it was just that Ana was playing really good tennis,” said Kleybanova, who took home $120,000.

Earlier, Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm beat Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 7-5, 7-5 for third place and $70,000. Hantuchova received $60,000.