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Stenson carded a closing 70 at Jumeirah Golf Estates to finish 16 under par, two shots ahead of World Number One Rory McIlroy and Ryder Cup team-mates Justin Rose and Victor Dubuisson.
Shane Lowry finished a shot further back in fifth.
The victory ensured he finished second in The Race to Dubai with 4981093 points behind McIlroy, whose points tally with the bonus pool added up to 7149503 points.
It also took Stenson second in the World Ranking, but the 38 year old said: "It would be nice to have been ranked the world's best at some point, but if I had the choice I would go for a Major Championship so I am going to try and be in good shape for them next year."
Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello held a two shot lead with seven holes to play only to bogey the 12th and run up double bogeys on the 16th and 17th after finding water on both occasions.
Stenson had also found trouble on a rollercoaster back nine, hitting his tee shot out of bounds on the 11th to gift playing partner Cabrera-Bello that two-shot advantage, but a brilliant five iron tee shot on the par three 17th produced a tap-in birdie to reclaim the lead.
McIlroy and Rose had missed birdie putts on the 18th from near-identical positions, while Dubuisson had to settle for a birdie after almost holing out from a greenside bunker.
"It feels great," added Stenson, who finished in style with a birdie on the 18th. "I'm exhausted to say the least. It was hot out there and tricky on the back nine. I did not play my best and had a shocking hole on 11.
"I walked up to the tee with too much club in my hand and instead of changing I tried to cut a two-iron but hit a push, slice, shank straight into the buildings.
"That knocked me back but I did not give up. I just had to dig in there and wait for something to happen. I had a couple of close calls this year to get my win and it was not to be. It's been close but eventually you get something if you stick around and I surely did that."
McIlroy failed to take advantage of a lucky break on the 18th when his tee shot hit a rock in the creek which runs through the middle of the fairway and bounced to safety.
Rose was ultimately left to rue a slow start to the week - he was four over par after ten holes of the opening round - and his failure to pick up a shot on the 17th or 18th after a brilliant escape from the trees on the 15th had set up his third birdie in a row.
"All week I was clawing my way back, right from the start on Thursday," Rose said. "Today I did everything I needed to do early in my round and made a few poor mistakes in the middle of the round. That was where I struggled.
"But all in all, lots of positives and a good week. It's a little bit like Shanghai (the BMW Masters) where I had a good chance there as well after a poor start (four over after four holes). But at least it tells me I'm playing well and getting myself into contention. It's never easy to win every time."
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