Federer dumps Safin for Australian title
MELBOURNE -- Marat Safin was a long way from a dreaded Russian winter, but there no was escaping the cold shoulder from Roger Federer.
Thus ended the most improbable and dramatic run to the final of the Australian Open in 28 years. Federer, who chilled Safin with heat emanating from his right shoulder, producing a shotmaking smorgasbord, won his second major, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-2, following a triumph at Wimbledon last July.
The gnomes of Zurich and everybody else in Switzerland must have been pleased at his entering the country's name again on an honor roll that had been dominated by Martina Hingis, the champ in 1997-98-99 and runner-up the three years after that.
Although he lost a set to Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round and to prior nemesis David Nalbandian in the quarters, the slick Swiss was never endangered from start to finish of the fortnight. By taking apart French Open champ Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4, in the semis, Federer ascended one step to No. 1, displacing Andy Roddick, whom Safin beat in the quarters.
With more variety than a buffet table, Federer spread his winning goodies all over the Rod Laver Arena expanse to become the first guy with a one-handed backhand to win this championship since Pete Sampras in 1997.
Federer was No. 1 and then some, and for a while the 6-foot-4-inch Russian bear stayed with him step for quick step, shot for brilliant shot. Their force of shot, angles, and depth from the baseline made for patterns that excited the full-house gathering of 16,057 as Safin came back twice from service breaks in the opening set. In the 12th game, the unseeded No. 86 Safin banged his way out of two set points from 15-40 with huge forehands, and into the tiebreaker. But in that critical stretch of tennis roulette, Safin missed four of five first serves and Federer was mangling his second serve, taking 5 of his 7 points with winning groundies.
"I came here to win," Safin has insisted during his tortuous journey to his third major final. Bookmakers and other critics didn't believe it. Ranking so low, he was a 30-to-1 bet at the starting gate. The bookies had lowered the odds to 5-2 when the adversaries took the court. Injuries and maladies of the psyche confined the Russian to 23 matches in 2003 (12-11), and Federer has remarked, Safin had some strange results, meaning losses to lesser players.
As the one-sided victor over Sampras in the US Open final of 2000, a 20-year-old Safin appeared on his way to the stars. He finished the year No. 2, and No. 3 in 2002, but his slide began. High life and low concentration -- "I couldn't handle the pressure" -- seemed to cost him the Aussie title two years ago as he diddled away the final to Tom Johansson. A year ago, he dropped from the third round with a wrist injury.
"I just ran out of gas today," said Safin, understandably. The most unexpected finalist since No. 212 Mark Edmondson, the last homeboy to win the Aussie in 1976, Safin put in more time on court than anyone else: 21 hours 6 minutes for seven matches. Federer labored 13 hours 5 minutes.
It was, for Melbourne, an atypically cool gray summer afternoon.
Hot at first, Safin steadily cooled as Federer began to find the lines and corners with his shots, and lay out the full repertoire of spins, speeds, and angles. Nobody uses the slice as well as he, in attack as well as defense.
Safin couldn't break his opponent's accurately placed serve after the first set, and he was feeling the effects of his long week's journey to the title round.
"I'm physically OK, but I never played seven matches in two weeks for a long time," said Safin. "But realistically, this was a great tournament for me. I'm back."
Where had the serve gone that blew away Roddick and Agassi? To Siberia? Against Agassi, he blasted 33 aces, no double faults, and 22 service winners in 26 serving games. This time, at 49 percent, he had 3 aces, 5 double faults, and 10 service winners in 15 games.
"I was missing by just a little bit. But," Safin grinned, "I wasn't playing some yo-yo who couldn't pressure me. It was Roger Federer, the most complete player in the game." Amen.
