Tennis: Young lion Safin finally subdues foe

By KATHY MARKS

For two-and-a-half sets, Marat Safin pawed and toyed with Pete Sampras in the manner of a cat with a wounded bird.

But as he pounced to deliver the final blow, the bird abruptly woke up. And so the Australian Open crowd were treated to 90 minutes of vintage Sampras before the once- invincible American finally succumbed.

It was the spectators who spurred him on, willing him to turn the match around.

Sampras, who found himself in the unfamiliar role of the underdog after losing two sets, won the third set tiebreaker and had two set-points in the fourth. But Safin prevailed 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (8-6), and he deserved to, for he played unbelievable tennis.

Unless he goes off the boil (and he is notoriously unpredictable) the Russian, seeded ninth, should win the singles title on Sunday, the day he turns 22.

On his form now, he is unbeatable, and full of the confidence that saw him crowned United States Open champion in 2000.

Asked how he rated his chances of success, he said: "They're growing from day to day."

Safin, who will play South African Wayne Ferreira in the quarter-finals, said: "It was tough today. I was a little bit down after the third set, but I stayed there and fought.

"I didn't want to play a fifth set because you never know what can happen against Pete. I'm looking forward to playing Wayne, and then we'll see."

It was Sampras whom he beat in the US Open final, eliciting much rumination about the changing of the guard.

The 30-year-old American has hung in, although he has not won a Grand Slam event since Wimbledon 2000.

On Monday night - or rather early today, for the match at Melbourne Park ended at 2.25 am (NZ time) - he rued denying himself the chance of a fifth set.

"It's disappointing, because the longer the match was going on, the more the momentum was going my way," he said. "I felt pretty good. I felt that my legs were good. I felt like I could have gone on all night."

The 13-time Grand Slam champion got off to an abysmal start, as he acknowledged, double-faulting to give Safin a break of serve in the opening game and ceding another break in the third.

Clearly intimidated, he cowered behind the baseline, his serve a shadow of its customary self.

As Safin raced ahead in the second set, the normally undemonstrative Sampras gazed at his racket in search of answers and argued repeatedly with the umpire, glaring, hands on hips, at the offending white lines.

When one spectator yelled, "Yes!" after he faulted on a first serve, he marched up to the stands and demanded an apology.

The crowd loved it. "Come on, Pete! You can do it! Dig deep, Pete" they urged him. Two hours into the match, the No 8 seed dug, and found reserves.

At 3-4 in the third set, a break down, he broke the Russian's serve for the first time, engineering a live-or-die tiebreak. He survived.

Safin, finding himself in an unexpected fourth set, moved down a couple of gears, while Sampras went to the net and began working his magic.

Both men saved break-points, and neither could dominate. Even the tiebreak switched this way and that before the younger man finally resolved matters with a sensational forehand.

While the American gave ample credit to the quality of his opponent's game, he declared himself not too downhearted.

"I haven't stopped believing in myself," he said after the three-hour, 33-minute battle.

"It was a tough one to lose because I thought I had a great chance, but I'm going to keep on fighting. I've never doubted that there's a lot more to come from me."

- INDEPENDENT