Wild card Chris Guccione's bid for his first career ATP title fell short on Saturday.

The Australian failed to cap his stunning run at the Medibank International with a trophy, suffering a 7-6 (7/3) 7-6 (7/4) loss to unseeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov in the final of the hardcourt event.

Guccione, the world number 125, upset sixth-seeded compatriot Lleyton Hewitt and fourth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych en route to just the second final appearance of his career, with his first coming at Adelaide last year.

Against Tursunov, Guccione tried to assert his authority with his serve, firing 15 aces without a double fault to bring his tournament total to 88.

However, Tursunov kept the match close, blasting six aces of his own while winning 38 of his 43 first-serve points.

Although the match was even throughout with neither player forcing a break point, Tursunov stepped up when it mattered in the tiebreaks, outlasting the inexperienced Guccione to claim the fourth title of his career.

Tursunov lost just one set in Sydney en route to his first title since winning the championship at Bangkok in September.

The 25-year-old dropped the first set of his second-round match against Richard Gasquet, but went on to upset the top-seeded Frenchman 3-6 6-3 6-4.