LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida -- Bermuda Open finalist Guillermo Canas narrowly failed to clinch a trophy for the second successive week, when he was beaten by Sweden's Magnus Norman in the US Clay Court Championships in Orlando yesterday.

Canas, beaten by Argentinian compatriot Hernan Gumy at Coral Beach last Sunday night, was defeated in straight sets 6-0 6-3 by the Swede, ranked 64 in the world in the competition's final.

But 21-year-old Canas, who reached his first ATP Tour final when seventh seed Christian Ruud of Norway retired at 5-2 down in the first set of their semi on Saturday, will have doubled his prize money for the season and made a further jump in the rankings when they are announced tomorrow.

Canas who leaped over ten places after his performance on the Island, which included victory over number one seed and 44 in the world Nicolas Lapentti, picked up $22,000 from the Orlando tournament, which doubled his total earnings for the year of $21,902, and gained a minimum of 100 rankings points.

Ruud had beaten Gumy, conqueror of top seed Jason Stoltenberg, in the quarter-finals.

Norman, 22, seeded eighth, took exactly an hour to defeat the unseeded Canas and lost just four points on his serve. He won five break point attempts, including all three chances in the opening set.

"I felt like it was just a matter of time before I would be playing my best tennis, like I did today,'' Norman said.

"Ninety-seven was a breakthrough year, and '98 there was a lot of pressure and I didn't know how to handle it. I have a lot of confidence after this victory.'' Norman had won just three of nine matches in 1999 entering the tournament at Walt Disney World's Wide World of Sports Complex. He had beaten another Bermuda Open competitor, Max Mirnyi, of Belarus, in the semi-final. Mirnyi, a second round victim of Canas in Bermuda, but who knocked off defending champion Jim Courier on Friday night, said: "You have to give a lot of credit to Magnus.'' Canas led Ruud 5-2 in the first set before the Norwegian was forced to abandon the match with a shoulder injury. Canas, whose ATP Tour match record was 1-6 entering the tournament, had not dropped a set in Orlando before Norman took him to task.