Fighting man

Surging Safin eyes second Grand Slam title

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Riding his huge serve and heavy groundstrokes, Marat Safin beat Pete Sampras in the 2000 U.S. Open final in a single-minded display of power. Then he lost his way.

Now Safin is back in a Grand Slam decider, taking on Swede Thomas Johansson Sunday in the Australian Open championship match. The final coincides with his 22nd birthday.

Victory will give him a second major and will also confirm his standing at the forefront of the new generation ready to take over from Sampras and Andre Agassi.

The big Russian said he gained "a present" when South African Wayne Ferreira quit their quarterfinal with an abdominal strain. Then he got a reprieve in his semifinal against seventh seeded Tommy Haas Friday when rain stopped play with the German leading two sets to one.

Safin regrouped and raced through the last two sets for a 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 win in a match he admitted later he had "no chance to win" if it hadn't rained.

The win was further proof to Safin that he has put an inconsistent year in 2001 behind him. He said he was most pleased with the fact that "I could find my game and I was fighting."

"I had no chance and even then I stayed and I could find my game again ... it's very positive for me to find my game at the right time, at the right moment," he added.

Against the 16th seeded Johansson, the Russian will be out to secure his homeland it's fourth Grand Slam title of the Open era and become the second Russian man to win the Australian Open after Yevgeny Kafelnikov's success here in 1999.

Safin has won two of his three matches against Johansson, the latest being in the fourth round at last year's U.S. Open.

Johansson advanced to the final by beating Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic 7-6 (5), 0-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals.

The last Swede to make an Australian Open final was Thomas Enqvist, who fell to Kafelnikov in 1999. Mats Wilander is the last Swedish player to win in Melbourne, beating Australia's Pat Cash in 1988. Stefan Edberg lost to Jim Courier in 1992 and 1993.

Johansson has made an unexpected run to his first Grand Slam final and benefited from a men's draw hit by injuries and upsets.

Still, Safin is wary of his unheralded rival. "He's a great player, he has a great serve and he has a very good baseline game, you have to stay there, you have to fight a lot," said the Russian.

"Nobody likes to play against him because he is a very complete tennis player," Safin added.

The Australian Open has been a tournament of contrasts for the big-serving Russian.

He has at times fumed about the officiating, been fined dlrs 1,000 for an audible obscenity, joked with journalists about his support team and blitzed his rivals -- including Pete Sampras in the fourth round -- with some booming play.

His performance against Sampras was a classic display of big-hitting tennis.

It is all a long way from the Safin of last year, who was troubled by a back injury early on and struggled through an inconsistent first-half of a season that saw his ranking fall from No. 2 to No. 11.

In 2000 he won seven tournaments, including the U.S. Open, and briefly held the No. 1 ranking. Safin admitted here last week that "I had it in my mind that I couldn't find my game."

Now he is back and enters Sunday's final a hot favorite to beat Johansson, who described himself in a news conference as "not very interesting" and met only two seeded players en route to the final.

 

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Safin beats Haas in marathon Aussie semifinal Johansson downs Novak to reach first Slam final
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