Blogging Safin, Santoro Win at Moscow

Posted on October 13, 2006

Fan favorite Marat Safin posted a three-set 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Daniele Bracciali in Moscow Thursday to move into the quarterfinals.

Safin, a former world No. 1 came back from a set down to defeat the Italian in 103 minutes, and he'll now play Janko Tipsarevic, who won in straight sets over the Czech Republic's Robin Vik.

"I am very happy to be through, it was not a pretty match as I was very nervous," Safin said. "I always want to do well here, a second-round loss would have disappointed everyone. This is so important for me to win points and try to be seeded at the Australian Open next year."

Added Safin in his blog: "I never played against Daniele and like I said I have a lot of respect for Italians because they are the most talented people on the planet. You know the reasons. Probably the Vatican has a direct line with God. That's why they are the chosen ones and the country is running with no work, good for them."

The No. 7 seed Fabrice Santoro advanced dropping just two games against the home wildcard Konstantin Kravchuk in a 6-1, 6-1 beat-down. Next up for Santoro is German Philipp Kohlschreiber, a 6-3, 6-2 winner of the talented teen Evgeny Koralev.

Arnaud Clement advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win over Sergiy Stakhovsky, as did Max Mirnyi who needed a third-set tiebreak to beat No. 6 seed Julien Benneteau.