Norman wins revenge against Kuerten

It is possible that all the twists and turns of their matches against each other contributed to Gustavo Kuerten and Magnus Norman both having to undergo hip surgery. Neverthe- less, they were involved in another up-and-downer yesterday when they met for the 10th time, at the Monte Carlo Open.

Kuerten, as usual, was up. On this occasion the Brazilian led his Swedish opponent, 6-1, 5-2. Norman managed to hold serve to love, after which Kuerten walked across the clay court with a gait that suggested he imagined he was on a beach. His concentration had broken, and so was his serve. Norman, growing in confidence, went on to win, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2, and advanced to the last 16.

Norman, ranked No 94 in the world, received a wild card into the Masters Series tournament. He savoured yesterday's turn of events with almost as much satisfaction as if he had won the title. "This is huge for me," Norman said, recalling that in the 2000 French Open final against Kuerten he recovered from two sets down, only to be lose on the 11th match point in the fourth set.

"I really wanted revenge," said Norman, who had also lost close matches to Kuerten at the Tennis Masters Cup in Lisbon at the end of 2000 and in a tournament in Majorca last year. He added: "I was taught by my father and all my coaches that no matter what happened, no matter how lousy you play, always fight to the last point."

Kuerten, a winner in Monte Carlo in 1999 and 2001, and three times the French Open champion, wanted to fight to the last point yesterday, but Norman drained his confidence away until he was flailing without success. "I missed a couple of shots as he came back to 5-4 in the second set, and everything started to become like a nightmare," the 10th seed said. "It's very disappointing to miss opportunities like this." Norman next plays Filippo Volandri, an Italian qualifier, who eliminated the sixth-seeded David Nalbandian, the Argentinian runner-up at Wimbledon last year, 6-2, 7-6.

A winning performance by a French wild card, Julien Boutter, brightened the afternoon for the locals, who had been disappointed to see Arnaud Clement lose to the American Vince Spadea, 6-7, 6-1, 6-2. Boutter, who won the Casablanca title last Sunday, advanced to the last 16 here, defeating Paradorn Srichaphan, the seventh seed, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Although the players were not helped by a swirling wind, losers were inclined to give credit to opponents or blame their own shortcomings. James Blake, the American 15th seed, fought gamely from 0-6, 2-4 before falling to Guillermo Coria, of Argentina, 6-0, 6-7, 6-3. Blake also lost the first three points of the second set tie-break before winning the shoot-out, 7-3.

"For the first set and a half I forgot to move my feet," Blake said. "I'm happy I fought back and showed I can play with one of the best clay-court players in the world, but I'm very frustrated that I lost."