Old Glory is a flag that is flown to a mixed reception most places in the Middle East and most nonmilitary Americans still journey to the region reluctantly, with a sense of trepidation.

But Andy Roddick became the first man from his nation to tap into the fiscal treasure trove that is the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship and prove a combination of intense jet-lag and rejection from a legend were not sufficient to dent his lust for glory.

There are doubtless those in the United States who would maintain a far more patriotic gesture on Roddick’s behalf would he have been to play the Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas. Perhaps the world’s sixth-ranked player might still have had Jimmy Connors by his side as coach had he chosen to venture no further than the Nevada desert rather than take on a 20-hour flight, complete with three changes of aircraft, to this sandy stronghold of wealth on the shore of the Arabian Gulf.

Yet few can deny cash counts when it comes to staging top flight tennis. A price differential of $300,000 on offer to the Dubai champion compared with a $68,000 prize for the man who will today come out on top in the supposed neon capital of the big buck was the prime lure for Roddick. So too was the fact that seven other members of the world’s top 10 had been attracted to play. “I stated the big reason for me coming here was to get a shot at the top players and that’s what I have done,” said the 25-year-old whose prize-money fortune is now nudging close to the $14m mark even though he has not won a Grand Slam title since the 2003 US Open.

The lure to Dubai will become even greater next year when prize-money will be increased 25% in both the men’s ATP tournament and preceding WTA Tour event with $2million on offer in both. A tussle of one-up-manship is clearly evident in the Arabian Gulf with the Qataris also exercising their massive wealth to draw this November’s Sony Ericsson Championships, the end-of-women’s-touring-year climax, to Doha.

The O2 Arena in London is already contracted to be the long-term home of the Tennis Masters Cup when it ends its four years stay in Shanghai this year but Dubai is clearly intent on maintaining its status as the most generous regular tournament outside the Grand Slams and Masters Series. The title sponsorship of Barclays guarantees another $9m over the next three years, ensuring the stature of the event.

“Our endeavour has always been to innovate each year,” said Colm McLoughlin, managing director of Dubai Duty Free, which inaugurated the tournament 15 years ago.

Winning the first tournament he contested since his coaching allegiance with Connors was severed was a great psychological boost to Roddick, whose last title outside the United States came on the grass of London’s Queens Club at last June’s Artois Championships. “It’s been a while since I have played this well,” said the American, who found Spain’s unseeded Feliciano Lopez his toughest opponent in a week that also featured wins over reigning Grand Slam champions Rafael Nadal and Novak Djoko-vic.

“I don’t know if this week is about Jimmy. It was nice having Jimmy’s voice but for the most part on the road it was my brother John, my trainer Doug Spreen and me. So I don’t know if this week is a whole lot different besides some telephone conversations.” Connors’s aim in becoming Roddick’s coach was initially to push him to a level where he could overcome the best players and dispense of the label that has long been attached; the player with the biggest serve in the world but no Plan B. Characteristically Roddick fired another 25 aces to beat Lopez 6-7 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 54 minutes, and did not allow his serve to be broken all week.

The thought of travelling from Memphis, where Roddick exited his last tournament nine days ago, and making an immediate journey back to Indian Wells in California was obviously abhorrent to Connors. With the trophy in his grasp, Roddick maintained he was so fatigued froma journey that required transit from Tennessee in Washington DC and Frankfurt before landing in Dubai, normal preparations were ignored before his opening match against Juan Carlos Fer-rero in favour of a nap on the players’ lounge floor.

A sense of achievement has clearly purged all weariness and choosing his words carefully, Roddick said: “Sometimes I tell people I am the best bad tennis player of all time. I’m a guy who supposedly cannot volley, hit a backhand and doesn’t have a big forehand anymore. Yet I win like this, there must be something there.”

Lopez was the unlikeliest of finalists among an array of top-ranking stars lured to the tournament. Ranked only 41st in the world after a period of distinct disappointment throughout the early weeks of 2008, the left-hander from Madrid had become revitalised in the sultry conditions of the past week.

Unlike so many of his countrymen, Lopez is a player whose only option is to attack. Earlier wins against top10 opponents Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer and Nikolay Davydenko boosted confidence to the extent he refused to be intimidated by a fierce opening ace that crashed down the middle of the court in excess of 140mph. Lopez was undeniably in the ascendancy when a service winner clinched a tense first-set tiebreak after 52 minutes and three previous defeats against Roddick without even winning a set seemed irrelevant.

However, inconsistency has long been the Spaniard’s greatest burden and in the space of a few exchanges he changed from an aggressive dictator to a subservient player destined to lose. A slack backhand volley thudded into the net late in the second set, lame by comparison with so many athletic shots that he had previously dispatched for winners in the early stages. To compound his woe, Lopez presented Roddick with the service break with a double fault and his challenge was over.

Rapidly the second set became a Roddick formality and a spate of dispirited Lopez volleys immediately allowed the seeded man a break of serve at the beginning of the decisive third. And from then on the result became abundantly clearer with each ace.