Zimbabwe's Byron Black joked after his enthralling victory over Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten that he had to plead with organisers for a place in this year's Marlboro Championships.
The 28-year-old from Harare has probably ensured himself an open invitation for future events following his strength-sapping, 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) triumph yesterday before a rapturous crowd at Victoria Park.
Black followed an arduous path to the final, defeating Chile's top seed and world number eight Marcelo Rios in the preliminary competition.
He then sent home Germany's three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker in the semi-finals of the US$725,000 event in three hard sets.
With the doubles competition also using up much of his energy, Black knew it would be a fitness test against the spindly Kuerten, who himself had been through numerous tough sets of singles and doubles matches en route to the final.
The three-hour, 23-minute match, interrupted for about 30 minutes by rain, was the first to go to five sets since the tournament was launched in 1988, and required a high level of conditioning from both players.
