Safin Loses to Santoro; Davenport Wins

S Y D N E Y, Australia, Sept. 20 -- U.S. Open champion Marat Safin of Russia was toppled in Olympic tennis, falling in the first round to his old enemy Fabrice Santoro of France.

The top-seeded Safin, who overwhelmed Pete Sampras in astunning Open final this month in New York, was ambushed onceagain by the deceptive Frenchman, a master of disguise andchange of pace, who took a 1-6 6-1 6-4 center court victory.

The stunning triumph over the world number two marked the35th-ranked Santoro’s fifth career win without a loss againstthe strapping Russian.

“For sure, it’s a great win for me,” said the 27-year-oldSantoro, ranked 35th in the world. “He won the Open two weeksago and he is the leader in the ATP race. It is a big win.”

Angry at Himself

Said a disappointed Safin, who was in position to overtakePete Sampras as world number one: “I couldn’t help my countryand I’m angry at myself because I can’t fight for the goldmedal and I can’t make the number one in the world.”

Five other men’s seeds fell today.

Tim Henman of Britain, the seventh seed, was ousted 6-3 6-2by Karol Kucera of Slovakia, who fired passing shots by thenet-charging Briton like a marksman.

Fellow Briton Greg Rusedski made an early exit as well,beaten 6-2 6-3 by France’s Arnaud Clement.

Tenth seed Franco Squillari of Argentina fell to MoroccanKarim Alami, 12th seed Marcelo Rios of Chile lost in three setsto Argentina’s Mariano Zabaleta, 14th seed Wayne Ferreira ofSouth Africa was beaten by German Tommy Haas, and American 16thseed Michael Chang was ousted by Canada’s Sebastien Lareau.

Worst Possible Opponent

The 20-year-old Safin drew the worst possible opponent forhis opening Olympic match in Santoro, and the Russian did nothelp his campaign any by his wearying schedule.

He had traveled straight from the Open to Tashkent,Uzbekistan, where he won the President’s Cup tournament onSunday before making a trip of some 15 hours to Sydney.