Maria: I deserve top spot

"The rankings don't lie," the 19-year-old told Reuters on Monday ahead of this week's Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. "I had a great end to last year.

"I'm excited to get to number one and hopefully I can keep it for many weeks to come."

The Russian replaced Belgium's Justine Henin at the top of the WTA rankings on Monday.

She admitted she had some mixed feelings, however, about returning to the summit of the women's game following her 6-1 6-2 thrashing by Williams in Melbourne at the weekend.

"Obviously after every loss you're disappointed," Sharapova said. "As an athlete it's never fun losing. But at the end of the day, I reached the final of a grand slam in my first tournament of the year. I'm proud of that."

Sharapova won the tier one Pan Pacific Open in 2005 and seized the world number one ranking for the first time in August of that year.

She promised to make up for a surprise defeat by Martina Hingis in last year's Tokyo semi-finals.

"Martina took me out last year in the semis," smiled Sharapova, flanked by her Swiss rival. "Hopefully I can get some revenge this year in the final."

Hingis is seeded two behind Sharapova as she bids to win a record fifth title at the $1.3-million tournament, having won in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002.

"I've got to the final a few times here," said former world number one Hingis, now ranked sixth after reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals.

"Hopefully it will bring out the best in me again."

Hard-hitting Russian Elena Dementieva, who beat Hingis in last year's final, and Serb Jelena Jankovic are seeded third and fourth respectively.

Israel's Shahar Peer, who pushed Williams to the limit in the Melbourne quarter-finals, is also among a quality field in Tokyo.

Japan's Ai Sugiyama received an award from tournament organisers to mark her 15th consecutive appearance at the event.

"I think I know my way around this court by now," said Sugiyama. "Hopefully I can stick around for most of the week."