Safin, Martin Advance to U.S. Open Semis

N E W  Y O R K, Sept. 8, 2000 -- 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.

That moment might be coming soon.

Safin showed off his many-splendored talents—135 mph serves,crushing groundstrokes, a wall-climbing retrieval of an overhead -during the afternoon to reach the semis in a performancereminiscent of Sampras at 19.

Infamous already for breaking more rackets than anyone else, the20-year-old Russian kept his temper in check and his errors down ashe beat Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

In advancing to a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time, theNo. 6 Safin gave the open crowd a glimpse of what all theexcitement has been about among those who have watched him over thepast few years.

No one else among the new generation of players seeking to takeover from the likes of Sampras and Andre Agassi and Patrick Rafterpossesses the combination of serving and groundstroke power,coupled with size and athleticism that the 6-foot-4 Safin has.

Those were all on display against the 14th-seeded Kiefer,especially in key moments when the momentum the match shifted.

Down 3-2 in the third-set tiebreaker, Safin drilled a pair of130 mph service winners, then picked up the decisive minibreak witha two-fisted backhand that Kiefer netted.

In the fourth set, Safin refused to yield to his frustration atmissed opportunities on several break points and finally brokeKiefer to 4-2 after five deuces.

Aggressive Play

Then came the most spectacular shot of the match. Eager to breakback, Kiefer hammered an overhead that bounced off the court andwas headed to the USTA president’s box. Safin leaped and nearlyscaled the back wall to catch up to the ball, lobbed it back, andwatched in relief as Kiefer’s next overhead landed in the net.

“I was just trying to fight,” Safin said. “I was going foreverything. At least he knows that I’m going to fight until theend. Otherwise, he can get his confidence back, and somehow he canmake a break. I don’t want to play five sets, so I was runningeverywhere. I was lucky that I catch that ball.”

The crowd gave Safin a long ovation and he went on to close outthe match, dropping only one more point on serve the rest of theway.

Safin hasn’t always fought for every ball. He was fined $2,000for tanking the last set in a three-set loss to Grant Stafford inthe first round of the Australian Open in January.

Safin’s talent was never a question, but his ability to handlehis emotions was. He busted 48 rackets last year and thinks he’s upto 35 or 36 this year. His fines, he said, have totaled nearly$10,000. But he’s been on good behavior so far at the Open,breaking only one in the first round.

“I’m a new man,” he said with a wry smile.