Safin Closes on Masters Cup Berth at ATP St. PetersburgPosted on October 29, 2004 Top-seeded Marat Safin moved into the quarterfinals Thursday at the ATP stop in St. Petersburg with a straight-set win over Sargis "Sarge" Sargsian, strengthening his chance of claiming one of the four remaining qualifying positions at the year-end Masters Cup in Houston.
"It helped a lot to get used to the surface that I played singles and doubles yesterday," Safin said. "I really enjoy having the crowd cheering for me. I am happy to see this many people coming to watch us play on a Thursday, it is late and they are doing a great job at supporting." Joining the former No. 1 in the quarters were fellow Russian No. 7 Mikhail Youzhny (d. Max "The Beast" Mirnyi in three), No. 7 Michael Llodra (d. (Q) Kohlmann), and unseeded Croat "Dr." Ivo Karlovic (d. Corretja 7-6 in the third). "My matches come down to tiebreaks most of the time, so I am used to these types of marathons," Dr. Evil said. "When I lost my serve in the third set, I didn't want to think about it because if I do, I can go crazy." Friday's quarterfinal line-up in St. Pete is Saulnier vs. Beck (first meeting), (1) Safin vs. (7) Llodra (Safin leads 1-0), Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau vs. (4) Youzhny (first meeting), and in a serving throw-down, "Grinning" Greg Rusedski vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic (Brit leads 1-0). |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||