Alicia Molik became the first Australian woman to win a WTA title in eight years with a 6-2 4-6 6-4 victory over Amy Frazier in the final of the Moorilla International.

The unseeded 21-year-old from Adelaide claimed the warm-up tournament for the Australian Open with a hard-fought win in Hobart, recovering well after losing the second set.

She plays Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan in the first round at the first Grand Slam of the year, which begins on Monday at Melbourne Park.

Molik has played well so far in 2003, defeating three higher-ranked players at the Hopman Cup before losing to world number one Serena Williams in the final.

"Tonight's achievement is not the result of a fortnight's worth of hard work," the Australian said. "It's been the result of a long hard slog over the last 24 months.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet that I've won, but I'm absolutely thrilled with the way I've played this week and now I'm just going to focus on playing well at the Australian Open."

In Hobart, Molik, 94 in the world, beat five higher-ranked players, including top seed Katarina Srebotnik and fifth seed Vera Zvonareva to become the first Australian winner on tour since Nicole Bradtke won in Auckland in 1995.

Frazier was appearing in her 13th career final, but the 30-year-old could not add to her six titles, the last coming in 1999.

"I'm really happy with the way I played tonight," Frazier said. "The fact is she just played better."