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| Thursday, 11 July, 2002, 20:34 GMT 21:34 UK Norman relives past glories Norman has struggled with injury for the past year Two-time champion Magnus Norman rallied from a set down to beat Dominik Hrbaty and move into the Swedish Open quarter-finals. Norman, a wild-card entry for the clay-court event, has fallen out of the world's top 100 because of a hip injury. But he joined Spaniards Tommy Robredo and Carlos Moya and Russian Nikolay Davydenko in the last eight with a 2-6 6-4 6-2 triumph over Hrbaty.
It was the first time this year Norman has managed to win two straight matches in the main draw of an ATP tournament. "There was a time when I doubted that I would be able to come back," he said. "But now I can say that I've done it. I have proved that it's possible to come back after a serious injury." Only a few weeks ago, Norman was soundly beaten by Hrbaty in a Challenge Tour event. But after levelling the match at one-set all, Norman broke the Slovakian's serve at the start of the decider and romped away to victory. "It helped me mentally," he added. "For the first time in a year I feel that I can win a tournament. It's great. I never thought I would achieve this result in Bastad." Moya through Norman, who briefly topped the ATP Champions Race two years ago when he won the Italian Open and reached the French Open final, will face Robredo on Friday. The number four seed was extended to three sets for the second straight match, beating Spanish qualifier Gorka Fraile 6-4 2-6 6-4. Third seed Moya, the 1998 French Open champion, advanced to the last eight with a 6-2 6-4 win over Irakli Labadze of Georgia. Moya, who has not dropped a set so far, next meets Davydenko, a 6-3 6-4 winner over Chile's Fernando Gonzalez. In the other quarter-finals, top-seeded Guillermo Canas takes on fellow Argentine Agustin Calleri, while number two seed Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco meets Spain's Albert Portas. Second-round results from the Swedish Open, Bastad C Moya (Spa) (3) bt I Labadze (Geo) 6-2 6-4 |
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