He resembles a mop left out in the Brazilian sun for 23 years and they call him "Guga". Swashbuckling and stylish, it was Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten who, having failed to secure the French Open title despite 10 championship points, finally took his 11th opportunity to win 6-2, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), before sweeping up the galleries at Roland Garros to embrace his family and friends.

For two weeks it appeared that the name of Sweden's industrious Magnus Norman was to be added to the growing list of Grand Slam winners. Norman had impatiently taken to the draw, with his heart bent on energy conservation, dropping just one set en route to the final.

His light legs and robust game were expected to give him much the fresher look, given that Kuerten's semi-final and quarter-final matches were long five-set struggles. It was a final that will be remembered for its refusal to finish, as Kuerten repeatedly took it to the brink before backing off.

Unforced errors and hotly disputed line calls, in contrast to enviable calm from both players, contrived to make the fourth and final set something of a freak classic.

It had been pointed out that Stefan Edberg was the last Swede to play in the French Open final in 1989. At 4-0 down in the first set, John McEnroe quipped on NBC: "Edberg still is the last Swede to play here, Norman hasn't started yet."

Kuerten was allowed to sweep to a two-set advantage before Norman pulled back in the third to send the match into a wildly swaying fourth set. At 5-5, Norman saved three championship points against his serve. In his next service game, which lasted 22 minutes, he saved four more.

The tie-break offered no respite as Kuerten failed to grasp the eighth, ninth and 10th championship points and it was left to Norman to push a forehand marginally wide after three hours and 44 minutes to finally hand victory to the Brazilian.

"I didn't play my best match today, but hung in," said Norman. "I was 2-0 down and playing ugly tennis. I didn't get going until the third set. I don't know why that was. I was two or three points away from turning it around."

It was Kuerten's fifth final of the year, and the Musketeers' Cup - or at least its replica - will now go to his 20-year-old mentally handicapped brother Guiherme. All of Kuerten's trophies are given to his brother.

He also becomes the number one player in the world rankings, with Norman pushed into second place.

"People probably thought that last time I won here I was finished. Now I put myself as one of the players who can last," said Kuerten. "My toughest time was actually at the beginning of the tournament, when I knew I had to win seven matches . . . Kafelnikov (in the quarter-final) was my worst nightmare. Somehow things changed in that match and after that I relaxed."

Voted by the Brazilian Olympic Committee as the country's "best athlete of the year for 1999" ahead of it's soccer players and formula one drivers, Kuerten may not have the game for Wimbledon, but his style of play and benign nature has become a huge draw for the game. He even has his own website, guga.com.br, and a journalist who travels with him constantly updates it.

"Nobody really knew what was going to happen in the match today," he said. "It was very open, the way tennis should be. There was so much emotion at the end . . . I think it was a good one for people watching."