Agnieszka Radwanska claimed her maiden WTA Finals title with a 6-2 4-6 6-3 victory over Petra Kvitova in Singapore.
Poland's Radwanska created history by becoming the first woman to win the season-ending event after completing round-robin play with a record of one victory and two defeats.
In contrast to her semi-final victory over Maria Sharapova, Kvitova made a poor start to the match with a sloppy opening service game as her opponent broke her serve straight off.
Kvitova improved but was unable to break straight back, finally getting on the scoreboard in the third game thanks to a pair of aces.
Radwanska then held serve before two-time Grand Slam winner Kvitova delivered her third double-fault in as many games and she was duly punished by Radwanska as she broke through again.
The No 6 seed continued in confident mood, breezing through her next service game and was able to wrap up a dominant set in 33 minutes with another routine hold.
Radwanska carried that momentum into the first game of the second set, running down everything and breaking the Czech with an unreturnable backhand volley at the net before consolidating her advantage with a solid hold to win her third game on the bounce.
Kvitova stopped the rot to claim her first game of the second set with a forehand winner and she broke three games later with a booming crosscourt forehand winner to make it 3-3 in the second set.
An easy hold put her ahead for the first time in the set and she slowly began to wrestle the advantage away from Radwanska, holding serve and breaking once more to take the final into a deciding set.
Kvitova, struggling with a bandaged right thigh, was trying to keep the points short as she grimaced with pain after each rally as the pair traded a pair of breaks apiece to remain deadlocked at 3-3 in the final set.
Radwanska took control, though, forcing another break before holding to leave her just one game away from the biggest victory of her career, before ending Kvitova's resistance on her first match point when the Czech committed her 53rd unforced error.
"A few weeks ago I didn't even know I would be here," said a tearful Radwanska.
"I was doing the right thing in the important moments of a really close match, I had my chances in the second set but it doesn't really matter how I won."
Meanwhile, in the final of the doubles event, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza claimed their ninth title of their first season together with a 6-0 6-3 win over Spanish duo Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro.
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