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10/31/09 5:51 AM | Cheryl Murray
Russia’s Marat Safin slid past Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in straight sets to reach Saturday’s semifinals.
Marat Safin was a bulldozer in the opening set of his quarterfinal match against Denis Istomin. Play was so dismal from Istomin that Safin managed to win all but 13 points in the entire set. To the delight of the crowd, the Russian broke Istomin in all 3 of his service games to take the first set 6-0.
Istomin seemed to remember that he was a professional tennis player in the second set, and Safin came back to earth a bit. The dominance that marked the first set suddenly turned into a battle of service breaks from both men. Safin had many more opportunities to break than his opponent (8 to Istomin’s 2), but despite the uneven statistics, the both secured 2 breaks of serve to force a tiebreaker. A blatant missed opportunity from the Russian at 1-3 15-40 would have surely sealed the match earlier, but in true Safin form, the match ended more dramatically.
With the crowd firmly in Safin’s corner, the two men headed into the breaker. Safin’s superior serving, combined with a bit of tightening up on Istomin’s part allowed Safin to take the match finally with 7-4 in the tiebreaker.
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