NEW YORK -- Eleven years after he joined the pro tennis tour, Dick Norman is finally playing in the U.S. Open.

"I played all the Grand Slam tournaments, but never here,'' the Belgian left-hander said Friday. "It's nice to say you've played all of the Grand Slams. I had to wait a long time for this one.''

Norman finally earned a berth in America's premier tournament by upsetting top-seeded Lars Burgsmuller of Germany 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the final round of qualifying at the National Tennis Center. Burgsmuller also will play in the main draw as a "lucky loser'' because of the injury withdrawals of Thomas Johansson and Guillermo Canas.

Norman never was a "force'' on the tour. The 6-foot-8 Belgian never was ranked higher than 111th in the world. The lack of success was enough to drive him out of the sport.

"I stopped playing tennis in 1998,'' he said. "I just gave up. I picked it up again in 2000. Now I like it a lot more than before.''

In a career that began in 1991, Norman has had just one highlight -- Wimbledon in 1995, the only time he was able to qualify for the grass-court championships.

"I got into the main draw as a lucky loser,'' he said. "Then I beat Pat Cash, (Stefan) Edberg and Todd Woodbridge, and had a set point against (Boris) Becker.''

Norman qualified for the Australian Open once, losing in the first round, and for the French Open twice, reaching the third round at Paris in 1997. He can't remember how many times he has attempted to qualify for the U.S. Open, but said, "It has been five years since I've been here.''

Since his self-imposed sabbatical, Norman has rededicated himself to the game. Part of the reason is that he spent eight months working in a tennis club.

"Real life,'' he said of that period. "Playing tennis is so much nicer. I love the game.''

Others qualifying for the men's singles included: Edwin Kempes, John van Lottum and Martin Verkerk of the Netherlands; Ivo Heuberger, Switzerland; Jean-Rene Lisnard and Simane Saoudi, France; Tuomas Ketola, Finland; Igor Kunitcin, Russia; Alexander Waske, Germany; Robin Soderling and Bjorn Rehnquist, Sweden; Eric Taino, U.S.; Noam Okun, Israel; Radoslav Lukaev, Bulgaria; and Gaston Eltis, Argentina.

Qualifying for the women's singles: Bethanie Mattek, Ansley Cargill and Brie Rippner, U.S.; Denisa Chladkova, Iveta Benesova and Renata Voracova, Czech Republic; Marion Bartoli, France; Antonella Serra Zanetti, Italy; Mirjana Lucic, Croatia; Maria Emila Salerni, Argentina; Yoon Jeong Cho and Mi-Ra Jeon, South Korea; Fabiola Zuluaga, Colombia; Marie Geznenge, Bulgaria; Maret Ani, Estonia; and Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia.