Safin, Martin Advance to U.S. Open Semis

N E W  Y O R K, Sept. 8 -- Nothing comes easy for Todd Martin.

Two sets down one night, two sets up another, Martin lurchedinto the U.S. Open semifinals Thursday night with a ragged 6-4,6-4, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Thomas Johansson.

There was no victory lap this time, no high-fives with fans, noreason to feel wonderful about a match that he almost let slipaway.

Martin, the runner-up last year, looked nearly as exhaustedafter this triumph as he did after a five-set win two nightsearlier over Carlos Moya. Now he has to wonder if he will haveanything left in the semis against young Marat Safin.

“I’d like to walk off the court without holes in me,” he said,referring to Safin’s huge serves.

Easier Night

Martin worried that he might not have any energy againstJohansson after playing 4 hours, 17 minutes against Moya until 1:22a.m. Tuesday night. Fortunately for Martin, this match lasted only2:32, and ended at 10:23 p.m.

“I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to get going in thefirst place,” Martin said. “The energy from the crowd reallyhelped. I made a couple of good plays at crucial times in thefourth and that raised my energy.

“My legs didn’t feel good, and they don’t feel great right now.I understood that I didn’t need to play great tonight. I didn’tneed to hit the ball great. I didn’t need to do everythingperfectly. I just needed to do something at the right time betterthan Thomas could.”

Down a break at 2-4 in the fourth set, Martin steadied himselfand let Johansson spray errors to give up the lead. Martin brokeback to 4-4, then broke again in the final game to close it out. Itwasn’t pretty, but it was good enough to satisfy Martin.

“I think the uglier the tennis, typically the better tennisplayer wins,” Martin said.

Super Safin?

Like the gangly young Pete Sampras who won his first U.S. Openwith raw power a decade ago, Safin is a player everyone in tennishas seen coming and has been waiting to see mature into a champion.