Canas overcomes Dick Norman
Free Press Journal - January 1, 2003

Defending champion and top-seeded Guillermo Canas of Argentina staged a brilliant comeback, rallying from a set down to a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over unseeded Dick Norman of Belgium while 5th-seeded Andrei Pavel became the first seed to bite the dust in the first round matches of the Tata Indian Open Tennis tournament on Tuesday, reports PTI. Canas, the world No.15, stamped his class after overcoming an initial setback in the first set as he took the next two rather easily against the Belgian who threw in the towel in the end. The 25-year-old Canas, who was egged on by the crowd, fought his way back into the match, breaking Norman in the fourth and eighth games of the second set before further tightening his control in the third.

Dick Norman showed a lot of promise in the early stages of the match, and being the second tallest player in the ATP circuit at 6ft 8 inches, the Belgian used his power-packed serves to great effect. In the match between Pavel and Behrend, the former was not in his usual form. Playing the match in the outside court, Pavel, a regular one in the Indian Open, was not given any leeway by the German. Behrend rarely failed with his serve.

Pavel (Romania) could not sustain the relentless attack from the qualifer Tomas Behrend, losing 3-6, 3-6. John Van Lottum of the Netherlands fought his way to the second round with a superb 6-2, 7-6 7-4 win over qualifer Olivier Patience of France, while the lucky loser, Noam Okun of Israel, cashed in on the opportunity to beat Juan Balcells of Spain 
7-5, 6-4.

Results: Guillermo Canas (Arg) bt Dick Norman (Del) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Tomas Behrend (Ger) bt Andrei Pavel (Rom) 6-3, 6-3; Noam Okun (LSR) bt Juan Balcells (Spain) 7-5, 6-4; John Van Lottum (Ned) bt Olivier Patience (France) 6-2, 7-6 (4).