Second seed Eleni Daniilidou of Greece claimed the first title of the WTA Tour season, saving two match points before outlasting Korea's Yoon Jeong Cho at the ASB Classic in Auckland.

Daniilidou claimed Saturday's match 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-2) in two hours, 25 minutes for the second crown of her brief career.

The 20-year-old won last year in 's-Hertogenbosh.

"It was an incredible match," said Daniilidou. "Both of us were fighting a lot. In the end, I started to get more aggressive and get into the court more.

"She played so flat and deep, I couldn't attack and we were really tired, but I played the more important points better, and that was the difference."

Cho served for the match leading 5-4 in the third set but failed to claim her first career title.

She had become the first Korean woman to reach the final of a Tier IV WTA event.

"I would have loved to won my first WTA Tour title, but she played too well," Cho said through an interpreter.

"I tried really hard and played so well all week. It gives me a lot of confidence for the Australian Open."

Daniilidou also has confidence, which she will bring to the adidas International next week in preparation for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of the 2003 season.

"I'm so happy," she said. "I have to really rest now, but I have to play another tournament next week and I will go there tonight and rest tomorrow."

Daniilidou, who overcame cramping in the final two games of the match, split the first two sets before falling behind 4-5 in the third.

Cho was serving at 40-15 when Daniilidou got more aggressive.

"I really have to concentrate on playing well when I'm ahead and staying aggressive," Daniilidou said.

"But when she had the match points, I really played well and went back to my game. I was happy with how my mind was at this point."

This was the first time since the ASB Classic began in 1985 that the final set of the singles final went to a tiebreaker.