English youngster Laura Robson has been defeated in her first WTA Tour final at the Guangzhou Open, losing out in three sets to Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Su-Wei.
Robson was the first to break in the match, moving ahead 2-1 before immediately surrendering her serve to forfeit the early advantage.
Hsieh then reeled off three further games on the bounce to lead 5-2 and it wasn't long before the set was hers, 6-3.
Robson began the second in a resurgent manner, breaking at the first time of asking to lead 2-0 but yet again she couldn't maintain the break.
Hsieh broke twice in a row before Robson ended a run of four straight games to pull it back to 3-4.
At 3-5 down, Robson looked set to endure defeat but she showed strong resolve to save five match points and force Hsieh to serve it out.
The 26-year-old could not wrap up victory though, and soon Robson had the second set 7-5 as Hsieh wobbled.
Robson continued her dominance by racing into a 3-0 lead at the start of the decider but the topsy-turvy nature of the match returned, with Hsieh then winning five on the bounce to come within a game of the match yet again.
This time Hsieh didn't relinquish the advantage, serving out the final set 6-4 to leave Robson still waiting for her first major singles title.
Robson had become the first British woman in 22 years to reach a WTA Tour final.
Pascal Lemesre
