Former Wimbledon junior champion Kateryna Bondarenko stepped out of the shadow of her older sister to claim her first Sony Ericsson WTA tour singles title.

The 21-year-old prevailed in two tense tie-breaks to gain a 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 7-6 (7-4) win over Belgian teenager Yanina Wickmayer in an epic final of the DFS Classic in Birmingham.

Bondarenko, who beat Ana Ivanovic to win the girls title at Wimbledon four years ago, teamed up with older sister Alona, 23, to lift the women's double title at the Australian Open earlier this year and is hoping the victory will enable her to achieve the breakthrough in singles play.

Alona, who claimed her maiden tour victory two years ago, was fifth seed in Birmingham, where she lost at the quarter-final stage for the second successive year.

"It's feels great, finally I have my own title," said Kateryna.

"I never expected it to be on grass. It was a really tough match. I think we both played really well. Maybe I got lucky in the tie break."

Wickmayer, 18, found herself elevated to women's number one in Belgium following the retirement of Justine Henin, battled all the way on her debut in the Edgbaston tournament in an enthralling match that lasted 12 minutes short of three hours.

She picked up the injury to her right knee in the second game of the second set and needed a medical time-out before continuing in obvious discomfort.

The 5ft 11in youngster, who has been dubbed the "Belgian Sharapova" in her native country, tried to win as many points as possible through her big serve but a tally of nine double faults proved costly.

Wickmayer insisted she never contemplated retiring and said: "I'm not a quitter

I've never hurt my knee before so I have absolutely no idea what it could be.

"All I know is that it hurts a lot. The best thing I have is my legs and, if I can't use them, it's hard. I wasn't able to run from the second set on.

"It wasn't easy to serve because I couldn't push any more and that's why I double-faulted so much.

"It's difficult to lose 7-6 in the third but I think she really played well. I think I played well and it was a great match."

World number one doubles pair Cara Black and Liezel Huber collected their fourth title of the year.

They followed up victories in Antwerp, Dubai and Berlin with a 6-2 6-1 win over new pairing Severine Bremond and Virginia Ruano Pascual in the women's doubles final.