Gisela Dulko recorded her first WTA Tour title with a three-set victory over Sorana Cirstea on Sunday at the Budapest Grand Prix.

The Argentinian Dulko was appearing in her third career final, having reached the championship of Hobart in 2005 and Pattaya City earlier this year, where she lost to Sybille Bammer. Early on it looked like Dulko was headed for another disappointment but she turned the tide over the final two sets.

After dropping the first set in a tie-break, the sixth-seeded Dulko dominated the rest of the way and dispatched Cirstea, 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 6-2.

"I'm really happy today as this is my first WTA title," Dulko said. "I feel really excited now and I wish to congratulate Sorana. She is a great talent and I'm sure she is going to play many more finals."

The world's 50th-ranked player, Dulko entered this Tier III claycourt event having lost four of her last five matches. But she benefited from a decimated draw that left her as the only remaining seed entering the semi-finals.

The 17-year-old Cirstea was the first Romanian to reach a WTA final since 2000.

She entered the event ranked just 325th in the world.

"I'm really happy. This is my third WTA tournament and nobody expected me to be here in the final,"

Cirstea said. "I played a lot of matches, maybe that's why I was a bit tired today."