Birthday wish

Safin bounces No. 1 Roddick; Agassi, Henin-Hardenne advance

Marat Safin's underdog status won over much of the crowd during his victory. AP

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Andy Roddick lost to Marat Safin in the Australian Open quarterfinals Tuesday, a five-set defeat that will cost him his No. 1 ranking.

Safin's 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (0), 6-4 upset came on his 24th birthday. The crowd serenaded him with a rendition of Happy Birthday after the match -- not long after Roddick smashed his racket and left the court.

"I'm back, that's the most important thing," said Safin, who was unseeded and ranked 86th said.

The Russian said the Happy Birthday tribute was probably the best gift he ever got.

The match ended a dramatic day in which the busiest people at the tournament were the doctors and trainers.

Defending champion Andre Agassi earned a semifinal berth when ninth-seeded Sebastien Grosjean defaulted with a groin injury after losing the first set. Agassi, eyeing his fifth Australian Open title and ninth Grand Slam crown, will face Safin in the semifinals.

Amelie Mauresmo, the fourth-seeded woman, didn't even start, forfeiting in tears with a torn back muscle and handing No. 32 Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia a free pass to the semis.

Zuluaga will face top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne, who ousted fifth-seeded Lindsay Davenport 7-5, 6-3. Neither was in top form, but Henin-Hardenne managed to win the big points, as she did last year when she beat Davenport 9-7 in the third set.

Davenport's loss left Lisa Raymond as the only American woman remaining in singles.

In last year's Australian Open, Safin tore ligaments in his left wrist during a first-round match. This time, he rallied from a slow start against the U.S. Open champion and showed that his skills haven't eroded.

For nearly 3 1/2 hours, Safin and Roddick matched ace for ace and swapped drives in long baseline rallies.

Safin won over much of the crowd as he came back after losing the first set. But Roddick had his own fervent fans, including a trio of young men in star-adorned red, white and blue skirts and "U," "S" and "A" painted on their bare chests on a cool night.

Safin called for a trainer, who massaged the inside of his left thigh, after the first and third games of the second set.

"That was really bothering me at the beginning," he said. "Then I took some painkillers."

Safin broke Roddick's vaunted serve for the second time to finish the set. The 21-year-old American fended off two set points while fighting back from 0-40, then watched as Safin's return of a 125 mph serve caught the line at his feet.

There were no break opportunities in the third set until Roddick made four errors while serving at 5-6. Roddick evened the match by winning the fourth-set tiebreaker 7-0 as Safin suddenly went cold.

Finally, at 4-4 in the fifth set, Roddick netted a backhand at 15-30, then tapped a forehand volley into the net to hand Safin the break.

Safin fought back from 15-40 the next game, getting an ace and watching as a potential winner from Roddick on a second serve return clipped the tape. He finished the match with a pair of forehand volley winners.

"I felt there were some good things out there and some things that I can try and build on," Roddick said. "It's a little disappointing, but I felt like, even when I was missing shots, it was the third or fourth good shot I was hitting in the rally. He played great."

Justine Henin-Hardenne bounced back from two breaks down in the opening set to reach her fifth consecutive Grand Slam semifinal. AP

Roddick said he's not worried about losing the top ranking to Roger Federer or Juan Carlos Ferrero, who have quarterfinals Wednesday, because he'll have chances to get it back.

"No one can take away from me the fact that I was there and that I did have it," he said. "It's going to be jumping around, I think, a little bit this year. But that's what makes it exciting."

Agassi extended his winning streak to 26 matches at the Australian Open, spanning championships in 2000, '01 and last season. He sat out 2002 after wrist surgery.

The 33-year-old Agassi noticed Grosjean, a semifinalist in 2001, was going for low-percentage shots late in the first set but didn't know the Frenchman was injured.

Agassi took the first four games, won the set 6-2 and pulled ahead 2-0 in the second when Grosjean, who was out eight weeks last year with the same injury, defaulted.

"That's not a good way for anything to end," Agassi told the crowd.

Henin-Hardenne, the French and U.S. Open champion, lost the opening four games before winning seven of the next eight to take the first set in 52 minutes.

"That wasn't easy. Lindsay was playing unbelievable at the start," Henin-Hardenne said. "I wasn't ready for that."

Davenport was broken while serving for the first set at 5-3 and had triple set-point against Henin-Hardenne's serve in the next game, but she missed consecutive backhand returns and then hit a forehand that floated long.

"You've got to be able to pull some of those out, and I just wasn't able to," Davenport said.

Mauresmo, injured while stretching for a backhand volley Sunday against Alicia Molik, withdrew 90 minutes before her match. A 10-minute practice session ended in tears.

"I wanted to try this morning and have a little hit and see how I felt," she said. "When I hit some shots, I can feel really strong pain. The other thing is it could get worse if I play. The best thing to do is to rest."

Her coach, Loic Courteau, said Mauresmo insisted on preparing for the match despite scans showing a slight muscle tear.

"As soon as she went up to the net to volley, it was like a knife thrust in her back," he said.