Teenager Svetlana Kuznetsova kept the young Russian revolution on the march as she battled back to grab the Hastings Direct International Championship from Daniela Hantuchova at Eastbourne.

The second seed came from behind to win 2-6 7-6 6-4 in two hours and eight minutes, and was at one stage two points from defeat when wild card Hantuchova served for the match in the second set.

And although former world number five Hantuchova has put her career back on the rails, after slipping out of the top 50, the 18-year-old Kuznetsova from St Petersburg fully deserved her first title this year and her first ever on grass.

Compatriot Anastasia Myskina won the French Open earlier this month, beating another Russian Elena Dementieva in the final, while Maria Sharapova won the DFS Classic title at Birmingham just a week after Anna Chakvetadze was edged out of the Surbiton Trophy final by Japan's Akiko Morigami.

The first set, won by Hantuchova in just 30 minutes, was exactly in line with this week's Eastbourne form.

Kuznetsova had lost the opener in both her two previous encounters while the Slovak had taken the first set in three of her four earlier rounds until meeting, and eventually beating, top seed Amelie Mauresmo on Friday.

Hantuchova was soon producing her armoury of forehand passes down the line, feeding off the speed of the Russian's groundstrokes and, after making the breakthrough to lead 2-1, she comfortably consolidated in the next game.

Kuznetsova, seeded eight at Wimbledon, soon grew frustrated at her own errors but it was her rival's piercing accuracy that did the damage. Hantuchova, full of confidence, broke through again for 5-2 and then closed up the set when the Russian hit a return from the baseline long and wide.

But neither player offered the other much opportunity again until deep into the second set when Hantuchova had to fight off two break points at 2-2 with a pair of unreturnable serves and then another one two games later.

Kuznetsova's serve was rattled down with metronomic regularity, winning two games to love, but she slammed her racket down after missing another opportunity to get the break and the pressure clearly took its toll as the Russian handed Hantuchova her chance to take the match with a disastrous service game.

Sheer bravery got Kuznetsova out of trouble, though, breaking back at 6-5 down on the Hantuchova serve to force the tie-break.

And that turned out a formality for the powerful Kuznetsova delivery plus one particularly stunning cross-court backhand as she routed Hantuchova 7-2 to tie up the match.

There was nothing to choose between them until the ninth game of the decider when Hantuchova, having rescued herself with two big serves from 30-down, volleyed wide to be broken at 4-5.

And although Kuznetsova faced three break-back points in the 10th she persevered with her serve and ground out a solid victory.

A tired Kuznetsova could not take the chance to add more winnings as she and partner Elena Likhovtseva were beaten 6-4 6-4 by Australia's Alicia Molik and Magui Serna of Spain in the doubles final.