Santoro claims Dubai win

Santoro appeared in the first Dubai final 10 years ago

Frenchman Fabrice Santoro rolled back the years to claim the Dubai Open title with a dramatic 6-4 3-6 6-3 win over Younes El Aynaoui.

Santoro reached the first Dubai Open final 10 years ago, and has not won a tournament for over two years.

But he came through for his fourth career title win after a match which lasted almost two and a half hours.

Santoro also had to contend with ill health after coming down with a high temperature following his semi-final win over Jiri Novak.

He was unable to keep down fluids and spent most of the day in hospital being rehydrated.

A human being has amazing powers - sometimes you feel like you are going to die and you still have resources

Fabrice Santoro

He had even thought about pulling out of the match altogether.

"It was only half an hour before the start that I decided to try," he said.

"I had a shower and felt better and told myself that if I felt bad I would stop after 10 minutes.

"I would probably have stopped had I lost the first set, and I never really thought I could win.

"But a human being has amazing powers. Sometimes you feel like you are going to die and you still have resources."

The Frenchman took the opening set after breaking to lead 4-3, although he had to hold off six break points in the final game before taking it on his fourth set point.

El Aynaoui hit back to claim the second set 6-3.

And in a dramatic finale, games went with serve in the third set until El Aynaoui was broken after leading 40-0 to leave Santoro serving for the match at 5-3.

El Aynaoui put up a fight, forcing Santoro to save two break points before closing out the match and claiming the winner's cheque of $167,000 and a Silver Dhow trophy.