Norman Wins a Thriller

Magnus Norman of Sweden pulled out a heart-stopping victory Sunday night in the third round of the U.S. Open--and then evoked memories of countryman Bjorn Borg as he fell to his knees in an emotional fist-pumping celebration.

In the process, the third-seeded Norman may have saved the second week of the men’s draw from becoming “The Pete Sampras Show” by overcoming a two-set deficit and eliminating Max Mirnyi of Belarus, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (9), in 4 hours 6 minutes, the longest and most competitive match of the tournament’s first week.

If Norman had lost, after the first-round exit of second-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil and the second-round ouster of top-seeded Andre Agassi, the round of 16 would have been left without its top three seeded men’s players for the first time in the open era of the U.S. championships.

As it is, only Norman and the fourth-seeded Sampras, who plays qualifier Hyung-Taik Lee of South Korea today, are left among the top five seeds.

Norman, of course, wasn’t thinking about that as he dropped to his knees after rifling a backhand winner on his third match point.

“Many thoughts at the same time,” Norman said of his emotional state at the finish. “You’re obviously very happy that you pulled it out. But, you know, it takes a few hours before you really know that you won the match. . . .

“If you ask me now, I don’t really know so much about the fifth set because we were both so into it. It’s kind of empty in the head.”

Norman might not want to be reminded, but the 57th-ranked Mirnyi had four match points in the fifth-set tiebreaker, the last time with Norman serving at 8-9.

Norman, though, pulled even with a lob winner over the head of the 6-foot-5 Mirnyi and into the corner, then took a 10-9 lead with a volley winner before breaking Mirnyi on match point.

“It was great to be part of that match,” Mirnyi said. “Unfortunately, you never want to go down in a match like that. . . .

“I just thought that I made him play. This was my choice today. He dealt with that very well and passed me when he needed it. Credit to him.”

Norman, who rallied from a two-set deficit before losing to Kuerten in the French Open final in June, apologized to Mirnyi afterward.

“I know the feeling from Paris, when you lose a match like that,” Norman said. “It’s sad that someone has to lose this match because he made probably one of the better matches of his career.”

Norman’s conquest was easily the highlight of a long, wet day at the National Tennis Center, one that ended with two third-round matches being postponed because of rain.

Todd Martin, a finalist here last year and the only American left in the draw other than Sampras, had won the first two sets against 10th-seeded Cedric Pioline of France and led in the third, 2-0, when play was suspended.

Carlos Moya of Spain led eighth-seeded countryman Alex Corretja, 7-6 (4), 2-1.

Earlier, Thomas Johansson of Sweden eliminated Jan-Michael Gambill of Colbert, Wash., 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1), one day after the American had upset 15th-seeded Mark Philippoussis of Australia.

“I didn’t feel like I was moving very well the whole match,” Gambill said. “I don’t know if that was just a factor of me being lazy or if it was fatigue.”

Sixth-seeded Marat Safin of Russia defeated Sebastien Grosjean of France, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 3-6, 7-6 (5), in a match that was twice delayed by rain and ended nearly 6 1/2 hours after it started.

The score was tied at 4-4 in the fifth set, with Safin serving at 30-15, when the skies opened up for the first time, showering the court and sending the players to the locker room for 79 minutes.

In the fifth-set tiebreaker, Grosjean was serving at 4-5 when the rains came again, sending the players off for 1 hour 40 minutes.

Finally, the players returned and finished the match in about 90 seconds, Grosjean sailing a forehand wide on match point.

Safin, who bummed a pair of fresh socks from Nicolas Kiefer of Germany during the first rain delay and borrowed a pair from Jeff Tarango during the second, said the wait was interminable.

“I hope I will never be in the same situation because it was terrible,” he said. “It’s a lot of headache. Of course you get nervous because you don’t know what to do. I don’t like this situation. . . .

“When you go to the court from the locker room, you are scared. You think too much in the locker room. I think you can become crazy like this.”