Tennis:Yet another Norman conquest

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Nothing much changed in the tennis-playing lives of Magnus Norman and Michael Chang during last week's New Zealand international tournament. Norman, who won the five finals he played last year, continued that record by winning his first in 2000 - Auckland's Heineken Open at Stanley St.

Chang, who bowed out 6-3, 3-6, 5-7 in a 2h 20m battle, simply cannot break the drought which saw 1999 the first year in 12 that he had not won a title. The final was befitting one of the best weeks in New Zealand tennis.

From the time Chang hit a first serve ace until Norman served it out at 40-30 30 games later, it was a classic contest.

Twenty-three-old Norman could not buy a serve in his first service game and struggled at times as Chang threatened to take control. In the end, though, Norman could claim a 57 per cent first-serve record while Chang's fell away to 53.

The Swede, seeded No 2 and the favourite from the time Tommy Haas lost in the second round to the irrepressible Juan Balcells, was the quiet achiever in going through the first four rounds without dropping a set.

"I was lucky. He could have beaten me in two sets," said Norman.

He was nervous, but did not know why, since he expected to win - "I have a good record in finals."

Norman, a first-round casualty here a year ago, said that even though he had won, he will have to lift his game by a few percentage points in the Australian Open.

"But that is next week," said the popular Swede on Saturday before heading off to celebrate - with a little of the sponsor's product. "The crowd support has been magnifi-cent. You don't often see Monday sold out as it was here. The atmosphere is great. "I'm on the top of my game but he was close to beating me. Michael is a great player. We are both grinders and don't give up."

Norman pinpointed the 11th game of the third set as crucial.

Chang, on serve at 5-5, raced to 40-0. A formality surely. But Norman dug as deep as he had in two hours on court.

He clawed back to deuce. Chang had advantage. The see-saw struggle continued until after the fifth deuce when Norman pulled off two magnificent points for 6-5 and then, not without some apprehension, served it out to end a 61-minute third set battle. "Winning that won the match for me," said Norman.

Chang, obviously disappointed as he prepared to fly off to Melbourne, said he had had his chances but could not take them.

"That 11th game was a heart-breaker, but overall it has been a good week for me," he said. "It is a step in the right direction."

After that first set the tide changed as Norman lifted his game a level, he said.

"Despite playing three sets in every match, I feel pretty good physically. It has been good preparation for the Australian Open. I still have things to improve on but I'm excited about the good things that hap-pened this week."

The crowds had been unbelievable. Someone was doing a great job, and it was great for tennis.

Coming to New Zealand had ex-ceeded his expectations. The only thing he had not done here was go fishing, but he would be back.

The doubles was, in comparison, a quick-fire affair with top seeds Ellis Ferreira and Rick Leach top-pling second seeds Olivia Delaitre and Jeff Tarango in straight sets.

The players turned in an absorbing exhibition but following such a thrilling singles final it was difficult to engender the same degree of en-thusiasm from the crowd.