Zheng Saisai was the toast of home fans at the inaugural Dalian Women's Tennis Open as she defeated Israel's Julia Glushko to claim her maiden WTA singles title.

The Chinese was installed as top seed for the WTA 125k series event and lived up to her billing by coming from behind to register a 2-6 6-1 7-5 victory.

After failing to impress in an opening set that saw her squander six of her seven break points, Zheng rallied to dominate the second and set up an enthralling decider.

Despite coming under intense pressure in the third – battling to save eight of 11 break points faced – Zheng held her own to eventually edge out Glushko, who was appearing in her first WTA final.

Zheng's only previous final appearance came back in 2013 and was also on home soil against an Israeli opponent – the 21-year-old losing to Shahar Pe'er in the Suzhou Ladies Open on that occasion.

The victory adds to Zheng's two triumphs on the ITF circuit earlier in the season.