France's Nicolas Escude won his first title outside of Europe, and his fourth overall since turning professional in 1995, by overcoming Ivan Ljubicic in the final of the Qatar Open.

The 27-year-old's season was cut short in 2003 by a hip injury, and he had not played competitively since retiring during a Wimbledon second-round match against Juan Carlos Ferrero in June until arriving in Doha.

However, in Doha this week his form has been incredible, with a crushing defeat of Younes El Aynaoui in the first round kick-starting his rush to the final.

He had not lost a set, or even been taken to a tie-break, prior to the final.

Ljubicic gave Escude his toughest examination but the Frenchman still triumphed 6-3 7-6 (7/4).

Croatian Ljubicic was bidding for his second career title, but came up short as Escude claimed his fourth, after 1999 in Toulouse and 2001 and 2002 in Rotterdam.

And, although the status at this stage of the season means little, Escude can now claim to be the first leader of the 2004 Champions Race, given that this is the first completed tournament of the year.

Escude was only admitted to the tournament after organisers agreed to give him a wild-card entry, and he was not expecting to play quite so well.

"I'm winning a tournament after having not played for six months, since Wimbledon. It's a crazy thing," he said.

"I was a little bit nervous in the beginning of the first set."

He had destroyed El Aynaoui for the loss of just three games in round one, and maintained that form all well long.

For a player whose best performance last year was reaching the semi-finals in Marseille, this was some way in which to announce his return to the tour.

"It's a perfect week - winning without losing any sets," he added.

"I arrived here one week before the tournament started and played very well in practice. I have a lot of confidence for the Australian Open."

Ljubicic was satisfied with his start to the season.

"It was a fantastic week, I can't be disappointed," he said.

"I can only be happy with the way I played today and this week.

"I'm not disappointed to lose this match even though I would have preferred to win. A few points here and there decided the match.

"It's my second career final and the second best week of my career.

"I'll come back and try to win this beautiful trophy."