TOKYO, Oct 1: Japanese hope Takao Suzuki drew first blood in the men’s singles with a stunning victory against US 10th seed Jan-Michael Gambill at the Japan Open tennis tournament Tuesday.

The Japanese number one, who stormed into the quarter-finals here last year beating former French Open champion Michael Chang, got off to a good start for a repeat performance with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win in the first round.

“Honestly, I thought it would be tough when I saw my draw against Gambill. I’ve never played him, never practiced with him before, but I saw him in Hong Kong and I know how he plays,” said Suzuki.

“I planned to play my own game on my serve and try to put pressure on his serve with my return. I did it very well in the third set,” added Suzuki, who won three Challenger titles earlier this year.

For Suzuki, ranked a lowly 204th against Gambill’s 43rd this week, it was his first singles win on the Tour this season after crashing out of the first round at Los Angeles, Washington and Hong Kong.

Steady rain brought by Typhoon Higos postponed other first-round action on the outside courts to Wednesday and matches were played only on the Ariake Coliseum centre court with its roof closed.

Suzuki’s compatriot Akiko Morigami, ranked 125th, also caused a mild upset by beating 81st-ranked Rossana Neffa-De Los Rios of Paraguay 6-4, 6-2 on the women’s side.

Meanwhile, 2000 French Open finalist Magnus Norman of Sweden posted his first singles win since August by beating George Bastle of Switzerland 6-3, 6-0 in his comeback trial from a hip injury.

“This was a great win, my first in the main draw for months. It’s very satisfying, the body feels good. That’s the main thing,” said Norman, who struggled with his left hip injury for most of the season last year.

“He started off well, breaking me to start. It’s tough to wake up for 10:00 am match. I didn’t get a chance to train, but I felt good at the start. My shots were on target. I was in control when I broke him back,” he said.

“My game is on the way to become better. I don’t know where I am right now on the scale of one to 10. I’m getting better with each match. That’s the positive thing.

“There is no secret, it’s only hard work, playing week-in, week-out. If you are injured every second week, it’s difficult to come back, but the body has come up good. The results are tryuing to come a bit,” added Norman.

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

FIRST ROUND: