Pattaya, Bang Lamung District, Chon Buri, Thailand, 16 February 2015 | tennis.com.au

Ajla Tomljanovic came within a whisker of her first career WTA title before being pipped at the post by experienced Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in Pattaya.

Hantuchova recovered from a set down to win 3-6 6-4 6-4, her third tournament victory at the PTT Pattaya Open and her seventh career title overall.

“There are too many positives from the week. I’m going to try not to dwell on this too much,” Tomljanovic told wtatennis.com.

“I’ll just try to learn from it. There are things I can learn from this match and the week. Overall I think this was a really big step forward for me in Pattaya.”

Tomljanovic was contesting her first WTA final and carried herself well throughout the two-hour, seven-minute final, recovering from 3-0 down in the final set to draw level at 3-3.

Yet Hantuchova, a former world No.5 and a decade older than Tomljanovic at 31 years of age, held firm in the closing stages of the match to clinch victory.