Tennis: Morocco's El Aynaoui wins Qatar open, becomes 1st on ATP ranking

Morocco's Younes El Aynaoui won on Saturday the $1.0 million Qatar tennis open after beating Felix Mantilla of Spain 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, a victory that earned him the 1st rank on the ATP ranking.

El Aynaoui, sheered by an enthusiastic crowd, suffered a setback in the first set before reversing the situation and breaking Mantilla's serve in the sixth and eighth games.

This is El Aynaoui's fifth victory over Mantilla in five matches.

In Doha, The Moroccan tennis man, who had reached the finals in 1999 and the semi-finals in 2000, succeeds to Chilean Marcelo Rios.

He pocketed $137,000 while Mantilla won $81,000.

On his way to the finals, El Aynaoui upset German Rainer Schuttler, Czech Jiri Novak, Argentinean Franco Squillari and French Cedric Pioline.

With his fresh title the Moroccan tennisman now holds the 1st place in the ATP ranking. Another Moroccan tennisman, Hicham Arazi, who reached last week the semi-finals of Australian Men's Hardcourt Championships in Adelaide, now ranks ninth.