Tennis: Safin defeats Hewitt to win Australian Open

MELBOURNE - Russia's Marat Safin has defeated Australian Lleyton Hewitt 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 to win the centenary Australian Open.

The victory on Sunday earned Safin his second grand slam title and ruined Hewitt's dream of winning his national championship.

Safin lost the opening set and trailed Hewitt 4-1 in the third before he suddenly took control of the match, winning 11 of the last 15 games to seal victory.

Safin's win provided him with his second grand slam after he won the U.S. Open in 2000 and made up for his losses in the Australian Open final in 2002 and again last year.

Hewitt, who rode a wave of patriotism into the final, missed out on his dream of becoming the first Australian man to win the title since Mark Edmondson in 1976 and finished runner-up in a grand slam for the second time running after losing last year's U.S. Open final to Roger Federer.

- REUTERS