Chris Guccione boosted his remarkable ace tally to 84 for the tournament but it wasn't enough to earn the Australian wildcard his maiden ATP title.

Guccione, who captured the imagination of Australia's sports fans with his spectacular run to the final of the Sydney International, fell tantalisingly short against Russia's world No.35 Dmitry Tursunov.

In a rare match that did not produce a solitary break point on either player's serve, Tursunov triumphed 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-4) in one hour and 22 minutes.

In a gallant performance, Guccione fired 15 aces and dropped just 10 points on serve but he was unable to make any inroads on Tursunov's either.

Despite the defeat, Guccione's inspired efforts at Sydney Olympic Park - which included a succession of victories over higher-ranked rivals Lleyton Hewitt, Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek - will elevate him from No.125 in the world back to inside the top 100.

The big-serving left-hander will also head to Melbourne Park full of confidence ahead of his Australian Open first-round match against Korean Hyung-Taik Lee on Monday.

Guccione collected $US37,350 ($A42,000) for reaching his second career final.

The 22-year-old lost in three sets to Serbian star Novak Djokovic in the Adelaide final last January.

Guccione actually beat Tursunov in every department - from total points won, to return winners and service percentage - except the scoreboard.

"That showed how tight a match it was," he said.

"It was a strange game, not much in it at all. He played better tiebreakers than me in the end.

"But it's been a great week. This puts me back into the top 100 and hopefully jump-starts my year and (hopefully I can) have a good Aussie Open."

The Big Red said he was unfazed about having raised fans' expectations ahead of the season's first grand slam.

"I don't really try to think about that sort of stuff, what other people think," Guccione said.

"I don't think there's any point in thinking about pressure, or less or more or whatever. But just go out and try to do my job.

"If I can keep this up, who knows what's possible. I'm looking forward to it."

Guccione said his form in Sydney reaffirmed his belief he could crack the top 50 in 2008.

"If I keep playing this sort of tennis, and I think I've shown I can beat these guys on a consistent basis, hopefully I can keep playing like this throughout the year," he said.

"Top 50 is definitely achievable."

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