Justine Henin-Hardenne from Belgium lost the first set and fought her way back into the match harassing Monica Seles from the USA with very well placed groundstrokes. Henin-Hardenne also tried to approach the net and volley to outsmart Seles, which didn’t work out all the time.

“It was an unbelievable match,” said Henin-Hardenne. “Physically it was hard for me at the end of the first set, beginning of the second.” The No.1 seed Henin-Hardenne used her for forehand and backhand to hit the balls into Seles’ courtside with good result but she was led down by her serve and ended up with 12 double-faults.

The competitive fight between the two led to a high quality match with countless exciting rallies and great points for both players.  “I was tired from yesterday and it was hard for me to play the game I like to play. At the second set, when I had to because I had a match point against me, I played good tennis. Then it was a great third set. On the important points I played well.” Henin-Hardenne said in the post match interview.

The American Monica Seles squandered her chance of victory when she was leading 5-4. Henin-Hardenne produced two consecutive double-faults and made an error with her often winning backhand and handed Seles her match point. The score was brought back to deuce after Seles hit a double-handed backhand into the net after that the set had to be decided with a tiebreak, which was dominated by Justine Henin-Hardenne.

In the third set the Belgium tried to play very aggressively which paid off in the end. Both players kept the score equal until 4-4. Henin-Hardenne was broken after a double-fault at 30-40 in the ninth game. Monica Seles didn’t take advantage of the break and was victim of Henins rebreak to even the score again.

Henin-Hardenne held serve for a 6-5 lead and broke Seles after she made an error and netted a return for the match and the Dubai victory for Henin-Hardenne.

“Justine just played better at key times, and that was it,” Monica Seles said. “I had a lot of chances today, but it didn't go my way. She became more aggressive and made less errors when it was close, and I went the opposite way. The second set was so close and it was emotionally hard when you're so close to winning. It's been a tough one this year with my ankle injury, up and down a little bit, and it's nice to finish this long trip on a good note.”

The doubles victory went to Martina Navratilova, who won her second WTA Tour title of the year, with her partner Svetlana Kuznetsova. Navratilova’s 168^th title of her career was won against Cara Black and Elena Likhovtseva 6-3 7-6 (7).