Tamarine Tanasugarn won the second title of her career in stunning fashion on Saturday as she defeated third seed Dinara Safina in the final of the Ordina Open.

The Thai qualifier posted a 7-5 6-3 over her Russian opponent to claim her first grass court championship.

The 85th-ranked Tanasugarn came into the match as the overwhelming underdog against Safina, who has reached the final in her last three events, including the French Open.

Tanasugarn, 31, went toe-to-toe with the feisty Russian, however, securing a pair of breaks to take the first set and saving eighth break points en route to pulling out the second.

While it comes in the twilight of her career, this tournament will likely go down as Tanasugarn's most memorable.

In addition to shocking Safina in the final, Tanasugarn rallied from the brink of elimination in the second round - she trailed Ashley Harkleroad 5-3 in the third set but managed to escape with a 4-6 6-4 7-5 victory.

Tanasugarn claimed her only other title at a Tier IV event at Hyderabad in 2003.

Safina was gunning for her first grass court title, but will know turn her attention to achieving that feat at Wimbledon next week.

The 22-year-old has been one of the hottest players on the WTA Tour in recent weeks. Safina won the Berlin Open just prior to Roland Garros, where she made her first grand slam final appearance.

Since the start of the Berlin Open, Safina has gone 16-2 and along the way has beaten top players such as former world number one Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.

(reopens) "I have to forget this match because I played some pretty good matches earlier this week and today was just not my day," Safina said.

"I want to give lots of credit to Tamarine, I think she played a solid match - but I want to forget this match as soon as I can."

Safina is seeded ninth for this year's Wimbledon and will begin her campaign against Yung-Jan Chan.