Marat Safin Lost According to Schedule
// Tennis
Marat Safin has dropped out of the Masters tournament in Miami. He lost to Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty in the third round match. Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Likhovtseva, Anastasia Myskina and Maria Sharapova have reached the fourth round.
After the Australian Open triumph Marat Safin doesn’t play well, and it’s hard to say why. The tennis player himself finds it difficult to explain the causes of his failures. “It somehow turns out that I never play well this time of the year. So, there’s nothing to be surprised at. You just have to take it as it is,” Marat Safin said.
After his first match when he uncorked 51 unforced errors while beating Irakliy Lobadze who can’t be compared to Safin in the class, it became evident that the Russian would have some troubles with going up the tournament. But if he had some energy to struggle the Georgian player, then Dominik Hrbaty, a player far more sophisticated posed a greater danger for Safin.
The rivals seem to know practically everything about each other’s styles of playing. They met twelve times before and each of them won six games. The thirteenth meeting started with the evident domination of Dominik Hrbaty. “He didn’t do anything special. He played in his habitual manner and didn’t surprise me with anything. But as for me, try as I might I didn’t manage to find my own game. It all went wrong: neither the game from the baseline, nor near the net. Neither the backhands, nor the forehands,” Marat Safin said after the game.
In fact, Safin’s game wasn’t that hopeless. The Russian player managed to break back loosing 2:5 in the first set and then won the chance to play a tiebreak. If he had played a bit better, perhaps, it would be easier for him to struggle further on. But the tiebreak failure broke Safin down, and he virtually gave in during the second set. “What can I say? Unlike other players, I can’t play a bit worse or a bit better. I play either too badly, or great,” Marat Safin said.
Apart from the tennis the audience discussed a funny thing that happened to the Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic. He was to play against Vincent Spadea, and before the game went to take a shower. The washing went all right, but when Ivan Ljubicic entered the checkroom he found his clothes scattered on the floor and the door of the closet half-open. When he looked into the closet he found a naked French tennis player Michael Liodra there . “It was simply a shock. He was looking at me, I was looking at him. I asked him: what the hell are you doing here? He answered: you win too many matches this year, so I’ve decided to recharge some positive energy from you,” Ivan Ljubicic recounts. “Frankly speaking, I wasn’t so much amazed by the presence of the naked man in my closet, but I’m still wondering how he managed to find room there. The closet is small, and Michael is, on the contrary, big [his height – 190 cm, weight – 90 kg. – Kommersant]. But probably he is flexible. Especially when he’s nude.”
Russians play well in the women’s section of the tournament so far. Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Likhovtseva, Anastasia Myskina and Maria Sharapova booked their places in the fourth round. Sharopova excites particular interest with the American audience. The point is that the seeding faces her with Serena Williams who won the last two Miami tournaments and is going to repeat the record of Steffie Graff who won there three victories running. Supposedly, only Maria Sharapova can bar her path. By the way, there is another hidden motive underlying this match. Serena Williams made some impolite remarks about Maria Sharapova before the tournament and added she doesn’t view the Russian as a new tennis wonder and counts her among all the other players.
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ATP Tennis Masters Series & WTA NASDAQ-100 Open, Miami
US $6.6 million
Men's singles 3rd rd:
Thomas Johansson (SWE, 25) bt (5) Carlos Moya (SPA) 7-6 (8-6) 3-6 6-2. David Ferrer (SPA) bt David Nalbandian (ARG, 8) 7-6 (7-0) 6-1. Rafael Nadal (SPA, 29) bt Fernando Verdasco (SPA) 6-2 6-2. Gael Monfils (FRA) bt Hyung Taik Lee (KOR) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 7-6 (7-1). Dominik Hrbaty (SVK, 26) bt Marat Safin (RUS, 3) 7-6 (8-6) 6-1. Ivan Ljubicic (CRO, 13) bt (21) Vincent Spadea (USA) 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-3). Juan Carlos Ferrero (SPA) bt Igor Andreev (RUS) 6-4 6-3. 24) Jiri Novak (CZE, 24) bt Tommy Robredo (SPA, 24) w/o
Women's singles 3rd rd:
Venus Williams (USA, 8) bt Fabiola Zuluaga (COL, 25) 6-2 6-0. Kim Clijsters (BEL) bt (12) Nathalie Dechy (FRA) 6-0 6-2. Anastasia Myskina (RUS, 5) bt Flavia Pennetta (ITA, 26) 6-4 6-0. Serena Williams (USA, 3) bt Shahar Peer (ISR) 6-3 6-3. Maria Sharapova (RUS, 2) bt Marissa Irvin (USA) 6-2 6-0. Amelie Mauresmo (FRA, 1) bt Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (ISR, 30) 6-2 6-1. Elena Dementieva (RUS, 4) bt Magdalena Maleeva (BUL, 27) 6-3 6-4. Elena Likhovtseva (RUS, 14) bt Ai Sugiyama (JPN, 21) 6-4 3-6 6-3. Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL, 19) bt Nuria Llagostera Vives (SPA) 6-3 6-2. Alicia Molik (AUS, 7) bt Gisela Dulko (ARG, 29) 3-6 6-3 6-4. Karolina Sprem (CRO, 16) bt Stephanie Cohen Aloro (Fra) 6-2 6-2. Anna Ivanovic (SER) bt Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) 6-2 7-6 (7-4). Catalina Castano (COL) bt Patty Schnyder (SWI, 11) 6-3 2-6 6-1. Tatiana Golovin (FRA, 22) bt Elena Bovina (RUS, 13) 6-3 7-6 (7-4). Shinobu Asagoe (JPN, 23) bt Francesca Schiavone (ITA, 14) 6-0 6-3. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS, 6) bt Dally Randriantefy (MAD) 6-1 6-3
Afsati Dzhusoyti
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 29, 2005
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