Dubai: In 2002 French players won both singles titles. Fabrice Santoro, who had contested the very first final in 1993, claimed the men's trophy by beating Younes Al Aynaoui in extraordinary circumstances.
Hours before the match, Santoro was sick and in a wheelchair at a local hospital and thought he would have to default the match. However, he showered in readiness to come to the stadium to withdraw, and that revived him and he decided to try and play and he won 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Al Aynaoui had benefited when top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero retired against him in the second round. Yevgeny Kafelnikov was seeded two but failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals, losing to Jiri Novak. The men's doubles went to Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor.
