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Safin edges Sampras in Open epic
Reuters

January 21, 2002

Marat Safin took a massive step towards a second grand slam title when he beat Pete Sampras 6-2 6-4 6-7 7-6 in an epic Australian Open fourth round clash.

The ninth-seeded Russian - who blitzed Sampras in the final of the 2000 U.S. Open - secured victory after three hours 33 minutes of a sometimes bad-tempered match.

"It was a great comeback from Pete I was always under pressure," Safin said afterwards.

"All the time you are under pressure because there is Pete Sampras opposite you so you have to come up with great shots.

Safin, who had not lost a set before the Monday night marathon, next faces South Africa's Wayne Ferreira for a spot in the semis. Safin is the only player in the last eight to have won a grand slam title.

The eighth-seeded Sampras, holder of a record 13 grand slam titles, has not won a major since 2000 Wimbledon.

Safin started sensationally on the Rod Laver Arena court, launching winners past him to streak into a 4-0 lead in the first set.

He wrapped it up in 40 minutes and continued where he left off in the second set, breaking Sampras in the fifth game.

Safin was too fast and too strong for Sampras who could only watch as the Russian continuously hammered groundstrokes past him.

He broke again in the third game of the third set to set up victory but Sampras finally broke the Safin's serve to level at 4-4.

He nosed ahead 5-4 to put some pressure on Safin and used all his experience to home in on the Russian's serve.

Safin managed to hold with some spectacular winners from the back and two games later the pair forced a tiebreak.

Sampras pounced on a serve to grab a mini break and a 4-2 lead in the tiebreak then punched a backhand return past Safin for 5-2.

The Russian broke back when Sampras miss-cued a forehand but the American made no mistake on the next point to set up three set points.

VICIOUS BACKHAND
Safin saved one when umpire Jorge Diaz over-ruled that his serve, called out, was in fact an ace and saved a second with a vicious backhand straight at Sampras.

Sampras sent in a heavy serve on his third before thumping a forehand volley away to claw a set back.

Sampras let out a roar of triumph but Safin's head did not drop.

The Russian continued to thump winners from all over the court but Sampras matched him, making subtle forays into the net and using every angle available to eke out points.

A spectacular running passing shot gave Safin a break point for 5-3 but Sampras saved it with a miss-hit smash.

He survived the scare to hold for 4-4. Safin edged ahead again but once more Sampras pegged him back with some lethal serving.

Sampras won two tight calls after gesticulating wildly at the baseline judge which infuriated Safin, but the Russian still managed to move into a 6-5 lead.

Again Sampras held to force the second tiebreak of the match.

The American broke straight away, luring Safin into the net and then drilling a forehand down the line past him.

Two solid serves later saw him take a 3-0 lead. Safin exploded again on the next point and managed to get an over-ruled call over-ruled as umpire Diaz threatened to lose control of the match.

The players changed ends with Sampras leading 4-2 but he dumped a simple forehand volley into the net to hand Safin back the mini-break.

Buoyed, Safin smacked two forehands for winners to move 5-4 ahead and two points from victory.

Sampras levelled with a heavy delivery and eased 6-5 ahead and set point with the most delicate of drop volleys.

Safin saved it with a courageous low-percentage shot by ripping a backhand down the line and the players switched sides once more.

He earned his first match point with a leaping backhand deep into the corner but blew it by rolling a nervous forehand pass into the top of the net.

Sampras reached his second set point by burying a smash in the stands but again Safin fended it off with another geometry-defying backhand.

His 22nd ace fired at 208 km/h brought up his second match point and an amazing forehand running pass, bent around the high part of the net, finally sank Sampras.

 

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Safin defeats Sampras in fourth round
associated Press

January 21, 2002

Marat Safin overwhelmed Pete Sampras with his crunching backhand and attacking returns Monday and advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals.

Safin broke Sampras' serve in the opening game and dominated the first two sets, then withstood Sampras' comeback attempt to win 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (10-8) in a four- rounder in which both players had run-ins with chair umpire Jorge Dias.

"It was a great match for both of us ?it was a great comeback from Pete," Safin said. "The people they were supporting him very much ... it was very difficult. But I played a great tiebreaker in the fourth and deserved to win."

Safin, the No. 9 seed, and Sampas, seeded eighth, were the only Grand Slam winners left in the fourth round at Melbourne Park.

"It's a tough one to lose," Sampras said. "I played well enough in the third and fourth to keep it going, but I didn't convert the points I needed."

Safin beat Sampras in straight sets to win the U.S. Open in 2000. That 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 demolition was the most lopsided against a former U.S. champion in 25 years. Sampras avenged that in a semifinal win at Flushing Meadows last year.

"I'm close to the form I had in 2000," Safin said.

Said Sampras: "He played phenomenal in the first couple of sets, it reminded me of the Open a couple of years ago," Sampras said. "When he gets going ... he's one of the best out there."

Safin took the first set in 40 minutes and Sampras showed his frustration in the second, smacking a ball away after he'd failed to make a reflex volley and then exchanging words with a spectator who'd been heckling him.

"I was frustrated and need to release it somehow ... and I let him know how I felt about it," Sampras said. "I just showed a little personality ?you've been waiting for me to do that for 10 years."

With games level in the second and facing break point, Sampras looked intimidated. He slowed his second serve to 86 mph and Safin drove a winner past him to go ahead 3-2.

Under similar circumstances in his third-round win over Nicolas Escude, Sampras fired a second serve at 119 mph.

Sampras' revival started when he converted a break point to pull ahead in the third. But Safin drew level and forced a tiebreak ?after disputing a call on a Sampras serve down the center line. Dias, the chair umpire, told him that he had more chance of winning the lottery than having it overruled.

Sampras got a break with an ace, a first-service winner and then a lunging forehand volley. He stepped into a big return on the next point, grunting as he squeezed a backhand down the line for a 5-2 lead.

Safin got a critical overruling to get back to 6-5 after rocketing a wide first serve. It was called out but Dias scored it as an ace. That incurred the wrath of Sampras, who demanded to know how any umpire could overrule a 126 mph serve.

More animated than ever, Sampras clinched the set with a forehand winner and then pumped his arms and exhorted the 14,000-strong crowd to get behind him.

In the last tiebreaker, Sampras led 3-0 until Safin rallied.

Sampras got set point at 8-7 before the Russian blazed a double-fisted backhand down the line, then slammed his 22nd ace down the center line and ran beyond the right sideline to get to the winning forehand.

"It's disappointing because the longer the match went, the better I was getting," Sampras said.

 

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Sampras keen to continue the fight
By: Austin Peters

January22, 2002

His black curls are getting thinner, his legs a little slower, and his serve-volley game no longer strikes fear into opponents, but Pete Sampras, even after his fourth-round exit at the Australian Open, refuses to accept that the end is nigh.

The game's greatest Grand Slam singles winner has won only one major, Wimbledon 2000, since 1997 and his Australian Open campaign ended when he lost 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 to a fitter and younger Marat Safin.

There were flashes of the old killer instinct here and he was as competitive as ever, but after the 21-year-old Russian secured victory, the question on everyone's lips was had the 30-year-old Sampras run out of steam?

Sampras would have none of it. "I haven't stopped believing in myself," he said. "I'm always going to keep on fighting. This one was a tough one to lose because I had my chances but just didn't convert those I had."

But that was the essential difference with the Sampras of old, who took every chance that came his way. It was only Safin's dreadful percentage of first serves going in - down to 28 per cent in the third set - that allowed his American opponent a look-in.

Sampras has been beaten several times in the past two seasons by the new generation of players taking over the game.

Safin destroyed him in the final of the 2000 US Open, then Australia's Lleyton Hewitt repeated the exercise in New York last year.

Aware that time might be catching up on him, Sampras has been training harder than ever recently and even changed his diet to give himself every opportunity to win another major.

He almost came unstuck, though, when he was taken to five sets in the third round by French Davis Cup hero Nicolas Escude. He escaped but only to run into an on-form Safin, whose reward is a quarter-final against another 30-year-old veteran, Wayne Ferreira, of South Africa.

 

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Sampras Takes on a heckler - an unclassy Safin fan

January22, 2002

frustrated Pete Sampras took on a heckler as well as Marat Safin during his fourth round loss Monday.

An 18-year-old Australian fan shouted "Yes" when Sampras served a fault in the second set, and the Grand Slam record-holder turned to the stands and asked who had spoken.

The culprit, Matt Warren, stood up, and witnesses quoted Sampras as saying: "What are you doing? I'm out here trying to motivate myself."

At a post-match news conference, Sampras said he talked to the fan to release his frustration about the way the match was going.

"I let him know how I felt about" his behavior, said Sampras, who is usually low-key on court.

He told reporters that he was "showing a little personality for you guys out there. You've been waiting for me to do that for 10 years."

After Sampras started talking to the fan, umpire Jorge Dias summoned him to the chair and told him to get on with the game.

Warren, a Safin fan who bought tickets for 10 days at the Australian Open so he could see his idol, was delighted.

"I've been waiting for ages to get in Pete Sampras' ear and I've finally done it," he said.

 

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Australian Open - Round 4
Post-Match Interview

Pete Sampras lost to Marat Safin
2-6 4-6 7-6 6-7

Q. Pete, how hard is that to take, after coming back so magnificently?

A. Well, I was one point away from tying it all up there, and I did work hard in the third and fourth. And, you know, I played the match points a little bit conservatively and, you know, had that pretty easy forehand there on the break point that I let slip away and, you know, 4-2 on the breaker I had a pretty easy volley to make it 5-2. But, you know, I've got to give him credit. He played a great match. He really set the tone early, and I got off to a really bad start and I couldn't get anything going in the beginning. It's disappointing because I thought the longer the match went I felt like the momentum was going my way and the crowd got me definitely more into the match, and it's a tough one to lose.

Q. What was going on there between you and him?

A. Nothing.

Q. I mean, what was going on between you and him, like, emotionally, or something?

A. Nothing. Nothing, I mean, I don't know what you're talking about.

Q. Pete, how tired were you at the end? I mean, you had five sets two days ago, close to five sets today; how fit were you?

A. I felt pretty good, I felt my legs were good. Sure, there were some moments that we were both feeling it, but I felt like I could have gone on all day, all night.

Q. What goes through your mind when he's so dominant? For two and a half sets he's playing unbelievable?

A. Yeah. I let him - I kind of played a really bad opening game, kind of - you know, he just set the tone early on, and I let him do that. But, you know, he played phenomenal the first couple of sets. It reminded me of the Open a couple of years ago where he was on top of my serve, he was serving big, and he was hitting some great shots and, you know, I just started to be a little bit more aggressive there in the third, and taking more chances, and it started to pay off a little bit. But, you know, when he gets it going mentally he's pretty positive. He's one of the best out there. He's got a huge serve and he returns great, and I've got to give him a lot of credit tonight.

Q. Do you think that was a good hint that there's a lot to come from Pete Sampras this year?

A. Well, there's never been a doubt in my mind. It's always, you know, always going to keep on fighting; and definitely, there were moments tonight where I felt like I had it certainly at times and, you know, fought hard to get back in it. But, you know, you play matches close, you're going to lose a few, and tonight I didn't get the breaks that I needed, and he came up with the big shots, the big serves at the right time. But not - you know, obviously I would love to have done a little bit better and won here. It's my goal every time I play. So it's a tough one to lose. Like, I played well enough in the third and fourth to keep it going and maybe win the match. But I had my chances. That's all you can ask. I just didn't convert the points that I needed.

Q. Pete, the way the crowd was playing the match with you was incredible?

A. Yeah, it was nice. I needed some help out there, and they saw me struggling a little bit and they got me going, and it was, it was a nice atmosphere tonight.

Q. Pete, you did try to mix it up quite a lot during the match. But what is more dangerous of him: the forehand, the backhand, the both? I mean, he made two set points against you with the down the line backhands?

A. Yeah, he's got a great backhand - one of the best in the world. You know, forehand, he misses a little bit more, but he's a little bit more aggressive with it. You know, he's very solid from the back court. He hits the ball very big and very deep and he's got that big serve that kind of sets it up for him. He's a powerful player, and mentally, at times, he can be a little fragile, but tonight he was strong. He kept his composure when he needed to and played a great match. But he's got a lot of talent, you know, and he's put it together this week.

Q. Pete, he got involved with the chair umpire a few times. Was there ever a time where you thought he might lose his concentration or lose track a little?

A. There were moments I felt like he was getting frustrated and, you know, he didn't let it bother him the next point, he seemed like he came up with the big shots when, you know, a couple of tough calls from both sides of the court. You know, he always seems pretty positive against me and seems fresh. You know, he seemed mentally very strong and didn't really lose it. It was a big match and he did a good job.

Q. Who would you expect to win it now, from those who are left?

A. I really don't care. You know, it's a great opportunity for a lot of these guys, and, you know, whoever doesn't choke.

Q. Pete, there was, as you said, a lot of support for you tonight. But in that second set there was also what seemed to be like a bit of - a few comments coming your way which you didn't like from the other side of the fence. Could I ask you what that bloke said?

A. Oh, I was frustrated the way the match was going and I needed to release it somehow and, you know, the gentleman was, you know, talking and tripping away, and I let him know how I felt about it, and just kind of showed a little personality, you know, for you guys out there. You've been waiting for me to do that for 10 years.

 

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