Riveting Rematch: Federer Fights Off Safin In Dubai
Tennisweek
By Sarah Alvanipour
March 2. 2004
A headstrong Roger Federer showed his survival skills in Dubai today. The top-seeded Swiss survived a blistering blow to his head, but maintained his mental strength in scoring a 7-6(2), 7-6(4) victory over Marat Safin in an opening-round slugfest between the current and former No. 1 players at the Dubai Tennis Championships today. The match was a rematch of the Australian Open final, which Federer won 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-2. Today's match marked Federer's first appearance since Tim Henman snapped his 16-match winning streak in the Rotterdam quarterfinals.
Five of the top eight seeds in Dubai had already been bounced from the tournament when Federer and Safin took the court for their sixth career clash. Safin, who accepted a wild card into the tournament, came out playing with the concentration of a man eager to avenge his Australian Open defeat and earn his second career victory against the world No. 1.
Pounding penetrating groundstrokes that landed deep in the court, Safin secured double-break point at 15-40 in the ninth game. Federer fought off both break points with solid serves and eventually held for a 5-4 lead. Serving to stay in the set three games later, Safin slammed a forehand passing shot that flew by Federer to level the set at 6-6 and force a tiebreaker.
Picking up the pace on his forehand, Federer found the lines to storm out to a 5-0 lead. Safin slowed the Swiss' surge with a pair of powerful forehands to cut the lead to 5-2, but Federer won the next two points to take the first set.
With the first-set loss lingering on his mind, a disappointed Safin surrendered serve to start the second set. In the second game, Safin took out his frustration on Federer in when he slammed a shot hit the Wimbledon winner in the head. A chagrined Safin immediately held up his hand in apology and Federer shrugged off the shot to the skull to stretch his lead to 2-0.
The Wimbledon winner maintained the break and Safin continued to fight — both Federer and himself as the Russian repeatedly slammed his racquet to the court in frustration in the fifth game, but rather than implode an inspired Safin held for 2-3.
In the eighth game, Federer faltered and found himself facing triple break point at 0-40. Safin lofted a lob that barely floated long on the first break point, a Federer winner saved the second one and at 30-40 a leaping Federer slammed an overhead winner of another Safin lob before eventually holding for a 5-3 lead.
The 30th-ranked Safin held for 4-5 then quickly raced out to a 0-40 lead on Federer's serve. Once again, the Swiss stylist's strong serving saw him erase the three break points as Safin failed to put a pair of returns in the court. Hopping in the air, Safin hurled his body into a high backhand winner to earn his fifth break point and broke to forge a 5-5 tie.
The pair played on into a second-set tiebreaker that saw Safin seize a 3-2 lead. Unleashing his uncanny ability to summon his strongest play under pressure, Federer responded with a powerful passing shot that Safin could not handle to tie the tiebreak at 3-3. Moving beautifully across the court, Federer won four of the final five points to advance to the second round where he will face Spain's Tommy Robredo, who beat Jonas Bjorkman. Federer, who raised his record to 12-1 on the season, has lost only one set in four career matches with Robredo.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Federer: "I served well when it got important. It was tough on the body, we had some long rallies. The conditions are very heavy and it's tough to hit winners here. But I thought it was a good match, good crowd."
On his position as No.1: "I was very close to No.1 last year but now it feels different as I've won so many big titles and I'm more confident. I think I'm handling the pressure pretty well."
On Safin: "He's had a great start to the year. He has set himself No.1 as a goal for the year. For me he's already back but on the computer he is not back quite yet, but that will happen soon."
On who his rivals are: "All the young guys that are already at the top of the rankings. There will always be surprises. Dominik Hrbaty already who has won three titles which is amazing and then you never know with some youngsters who could break through in the Grand Slams and be at the top of the rankings."
Safin: "I felt much better today. I just got a bit unlucky in the tie-breaks and I had my chances to break him in the games and I couldn't take them. When he had chances he took them. The tie-break is a lottery. I was a bit unlucky today."
On playing Federer in the first round: "You have to beat good players to get to the final. Unfortunately I had him in the first round but it was quite a challenge for me. I had a chance to beat him and I thought I could win today."
On the crowd: "I was surprised that the stadium was so full on a Tuesday night. It was a really good crowd and we got good support to play well."
On getting back to the top level: "It is more of a mental thing than physical, just believing in yourself that you can come back, that you can play well and get back to your best level. One year of vacations helped me a lot, to rethink a few things and now I feel a lot more motivated than I did before." On getting back to the top level: "It is more of a mental thing than physical, just believing in yourself that you can come back, that you can play well and get back to your best level. One year of vacations helped me a lot, to rethink a few things and now I feel a lot more motivated than I did before."
Federer beats Safin again but Russian remains defiant
Channelnewsasia.com
March 2. 2004
DUBAI: Switzerland's world number one Roger Federer won a repeat encounter with charismatic former number one Marat Safin who believes he can take away the Swiss star's top spot by the end of the year.
Federer had a one-sided straight sets victory over Safin at the Australian Open final in Melbourne in January, but this time, in a 7-6, 7-6 success in the first round of the Dubai Open, the outcome was in doubt till the end.
It was one of the toughest opening round match-ups in the history of the ATP Tour, and the wildcard Russian came back from 3-0 down in the first set and had Federer in trouble at 15-40 on his serve at four-all.
But Federer suddenly launched four superb serves as though a rocket had been hidden in his pocket, and in the tie-break he was full of relaxed concentration and athletic strokes, taking the first five points before Safin could reply.
Federer again got an early break in the second set, but Safin broke back for 5-5 with some obstinate and gallant returns, saving a match point in the process.
In the tie-break however the defending champion combined a sharp-eyed return of a Safin serve at 4-3 with a forehand drive follow-up which eluded his opponent's reach.
That mini-break was the crucial thrust which Federer consolidated for victory.
"I thought we were both hitting the ball well," said Federer.
"And I managed to find something when I needed it.
"Being number one doesn't feel all that difficult because I have won big titles and there was pressure when I was close to being number one all the time last year.
"Grand Slams are the priority but I wouldn't have come here if I didn't want to win this too."
Safin, who was away from the sport for much of last year, repeated his belief that he was able to recover the pinnacle.
"To overtake Roger I have to be very consistent through the year. What's helped me get back? One year off to think about my life."
By Barry Wood
DUBAI (Reuters)
World number one Roger Federer repeated his Australian Open final victory over Marat Safin with a 7-6 7-6 win to reach the second round of the Dubai Open on Tuesday.
The defending champion and Dutchman Sjeng Schalken were the only two seeds to survive the day's play.
Second seed Guillermo Coria and fourth seed David Nalbandian both lost their first round ties, joining Rainer Schuettler, Mark Philippoussis and Tim Henman, who all went out on Monday.
The one remaining seeded player, seventh seed Paradorn Srichaphan plays Dominik Hrbaty on Wednesday.
Federer's serve was his only weakness against Russian Safin but it was able to get him out of trouble when he needed it.
It came to his rescue at 4-4 in the first set, when the Swiss faced two break points that would have left Safin serving for the set.
Four strong serves allowed Federer to hold, and he went on to dominate the tiebreak.
"I thought I was putting myself in trouble with my serving," said Federer.
"I was serving much better in Australia but the conditions were heavy and it was very difficult to hit a winner."
With Safin feeling fresher than he had during their Australian Open meeting, the two were more evenly matched and there were several furiously contested rallies.
Safin, a wildcard entrant, thought that he had competed well against the man who beat him 7-6 6-4 6-2 for the Australian Open title last month.
"I fought much better today (than in Australia) and was a just little bit unlucky in the tiebreaks," said 30th-ranked Safin.
"I had chances but didn't take them, and whatever chances he had he took. But I felt really good and felt like I could win today. It's not like I'm struggling with my confidence."