It was an evening when the champagne and vodka flowed with joyous abandon and Marat Safin's smile was as wide as the Volga. This was 2000 and the young Russian had just won his first grand slam title as a 20-year-old, demolishing Pete Sampras in the American's own backyard. His prospects appeared as dazzling as the Manhattan skyline and a championship pedigree assured.

Yet three years later he was missing at Flushing Meadows, as he had been for the 2003 French Open and Wimbledon. A wrist injury had reduced this towering bear of a man to a frustrated bit player and he entered this year's Australian Open almost forgotten, troubled and more than a little insecure.

Last year he had been forced to watch the rise of Andy Roddick, Roger Federer and Juan Carlos Ferrero as a spectator while wondering, when he next stepped out on court, what would happen. "I was a little bit scared to come back on the tour," he said. "When you do not play for a long time you lose confidence. I was afraid I would not be able to read the game, that all the players would have improved and that everything would be that little bit faster than it was before."

Now it is his opponents who are beginning to worry, with Safin one match away from a possible quarter-final against Roddick next week. After four-set wins over Brian Vahaly of the United States and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, Safin announced his re-arrival yesterday with a victory over Todd Martin, the American possessed of a game to test the patience of Job.

Martin's career is littered with more five-set set matches than most - "Well, I guess I'm very evenly matched with everybody" - and this was another DeMille epic, lasting three hours 25 minutes. It ended when Safin thundered a backhand service return beyond Martin's groping lunge for a 7-5, 1-6, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 win.

Safin's concentration has rarely been his strong suit and, when he lost the third set, the exit door was on its hinges. He smashed a ball into the crowd and received a warning; he made as if to eat his racket handle; and he slumped in his chair with his head between his knees as if despair had thumped him in the back and was refusing to let him rise.

"What really impressed me was that he hung in there after having the tide turn on him. Geez, he's not short on talent and he out-fired me in those last two sets," said Martin, a pro for 14 years who, with his grizzled hair, looks every day of his 33 years, going on 60. But he remains a fierce competitor.

Safin should have won the title here two years ago, losing the final to Sweden's Thomas Johansson after a performance that was as wide and wayward as his homeland. The year he won the US Open he claimed seven titles; since then he has won only three more, the last being the Paris Indoor Open in 2002. For a player of such obvious talent it is dismal.

Aside from any injuries, his temperament has been his Achilles heel. His serve is huge, and his ground strokes, particularly the two-handed backhand, are awesome. And all are matched with massive physique - 6ft 4in and 88kg (13st 12lb). If this was not enough, Safin is now beginning to learn to love the net.

"He's such a good athlete and athleticism is most effective forward in the court," said Martin, a serve-and-volleyer himself. "Having an all-court game, like Roger Federer, is the most important step towards becoming the best player you can be. For Roger it's pretty natural but Marat is moving in that direction."

There is no doubt that Safin should be in the world's top five - he was briefly No1 in 2000 - and not be left stranded as a one-slam wonder. Such are his power and talent that he can crush anybody. If he were American, and the possessor of an implacable self-belief such as Andre Agassi or Roddick, he might have swept everything before him. But there is a huge chunk of self-doubt, coupled with an almost wilful self-destruct button. The old Marat Safin might have imploded yesterday; against Martin there were encouraging signs of development.

He next plays James Blake, one of four Americans left in the top half of the draw, including Agassi, Roddick and Robby Ginepri. Agassi, the title holder for three of the last four years, flicked aside Sweden's Thomas Enqvist in straight sets and Roddick's 6-2, 6-0, 6-2 third-round win over his fellow American Taylor Dent bordered on the cruel.

Martin must have a lot of friends, because he plays a lot of long matches. His first match in this tournament was also a five-setter, and he won it after trailing by two sets, another habit of his.

The odd part about yesterday was that there was no tie-breaker set. Martin had played five tie-breakers in his first two matches, and won the lot, including all three in a straight-sets win over Ivo Karlovic. Martin likes to stay close to his opponents.

Martin lost the first set yesterday, won the next two, but lost the fourth 6-0, a most un-Martin-like score. Partly, this was because he was playing Safin, an enigma whose mercurial game would cause any opponent's hair either to turn grey or fall out if it was not already in trouble.

Partly, it was because of a slight injury that needed treatment at the end of the set and meant that he sat with a tennis ball squeezed between his back and the chair at each change of ends in the last set.

The last set was a classic; Safin said both players knew that the smallest mistake could end it, but neither was inhibited. It needed three screaming returns of serve by Safin to break the deadlock at the end. "I hit an awfully good serve," said Martin. "I don't regret serving there." Safin had won 151 points, Martin 148.

This was a meeting of the fallen. Both have played in two major finals, but each missed much of last year, Safin because of injury, Martin because of family matters, and both were unseeded here.

They are opposites in most ways, for Martin is 33 - second oldest only to Andre Agassi - and characterised by words such as "sportsmanship" and "philanthropy" and Safin is 23 and characterised by words like "intrigue". But his once famous entourage of exotic women has disappeared.

Martin wears only white and tucks his shirt and his feelings in, Safin lets it all hang out. But on court, both are tennis players, and not so different. The match began in almost total silence, broken only by the twittering of a sparrow, for the small crowd knew this would be a long and enervating journey.

Safin won the first set on a single break, but lost the next two because the 198-centimetre Martin made himself a swarming presence at the net.

Asked if the Safin of old would have surrendered, he said he did not want to talk about the old Safin. He was proud to have persisted. "I was a little bit lost. I couldn't return his serve. I was upset with that. But I tried and I tried and I took my chances."

Safin's expostulations and gesticulations became a self-contained sideshow. Three points in a row, he turned on himself, for one of them putting his racquet handle in his mouth in a gesture of choking. Another time, the clatter of his racquet as he flung it to the court made a startling noise in the quiet court.

As the match tightened, the usually expressionless Martin also became animated, questioning a line call, letting out a high-pitched "no" after one point slipped away and two Hewitt-like "C'mons" after good serves. Martin also distinguished himself by hitting the highest lob seen at Melbourne Park and landing it.

But the momentum now was with Safin. "He started letting the ball fly a lot more, and boy, when that happens, it's tough," said Martin. Safin, after all, was No. 1 in the world only three years ago, and without injury or distraction will challenge again.

Reviewing his position, Martin said he felt he was still a match for anyone on the circuit, but knew that everyone was now a match for him, too. "I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this is my last year," he said.

He thought that by the time of the presidential election in 2008, George Bush might have run his race and the Republicans might need him. His Democrat opponent can expect a long fight.