No. 6 seed
Marat Safin brought his "A" game Friday in defeating No. 2 seed
Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets in a battle of former No. 1s to advance to the semifinals at the ATP Masters Series-Paris.
"I mean, nothing was going wrong," Safin said. "He just played his best tennis. I was just maybe a little bit rushing, so I had to remain focused.
Joining the big Russian in the semis were (13)
Guillermo Canas (d. Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez), and un-seeds
Radek Stepanek (d. Youzhny), and Max "The Beast" Mirnyi (d.
Robin Soderling 7-6 in the third, saving match points).
Saturday's match-up in the semis are (13) Canas vs. (6) Safin (Argentine leads meetings 2-1), and (Q) The Beast vs. (Q) Stepanek (first meeting).
