Bangkok, Sept 25: World number one Juan Carlos Ferrero twice survived a set point on his way to a 7-5 7-6 win over lofty Belgian Dick Norman in the first round of the Thailand Open on Wednesday. Norman, who is more than two metres tall, fired down 17 aces and struck some blistering returns. But his lack of consistency often worked to Ferrero's advantage in the rallies. Playing in front of an enthusiastic Thai audience the Spaniard earned an early break to lead 2-1 but dropped his serve in the next game. He then faced a set point at 5-4 after a Norman return clipped the net cord but the left-handed Belgian netted a forehand. Ferrero then broke to lead 6-5 when Norman double-faulted, and served out for the set.

"He's a difficult opponent because he's left-handed and serves very hard all the time. He plays very aggressive from the baseline, but he did a lot of mistakes in important moments and that was great for me," Ferrero said.


In the second set, Ferrero broke to lead 1-0 but a double-fault allowed Norman to level at 3-3. Ferrero then faced another set point when a lob fell long but Norman again missed his chance when he netted his return off a second serve.


"It was tough and great to win because I only arrived yesterday from the Davis Cup and it was not easy to play today," said Ferrero.


Ferrero will next play Alex Bogomolov after the American beat Italy's Giorgio Galimberti 6-3 6-3. Home favourite and fourth seed Paradorn Srichaphan survived a scare in the first set to defeat Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus 0-6, 6-3 6-2. Number three seed Carlos Moya of Spain defeated Petr Luxa of the Czech Republic 6-4 6-3.


Bureau Report