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Safin beats Agassi to reach Madrid final Marat Safin played his best tennis in quite some time, beating Andre Agassi 6-3, 7-6 (4) Saturday to advance to the final of the Madrid Masters. The third-seeded Russian will face Argentina's David Nalbandian, who defeated Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-4, 6-4 in the other semifinal.
"Long time ago, really long time ago," Safin said when asked when he last played that well.
"I'm actually surprised. It was really difficult times in the summer. I didn't play well. I lost my confidence."
Agassi played a long three-set quarterfinal Friday night against Tommy Robredo.
"I knew he was a little bit tired with the long match of yesterday," Safin said. "I could concentrate on my serve and take chances on his."
Neither player was broken in the second set, and Agassi had a chance to take the set when he went up 3-1 and then 4-2 in the tiebreaker. But Safin then won three straight points, going up 5-4 when Agassi hit a forehand long, and went on to clinch the match.
"I got outplayed in the first set," Agassi said. "I managed to sort of hang in there and figure out a way to give myself more chances than him in the second. Didn't quite just get over that hump."
Nalbandian, who hasn't lost a set in the tournament, needed just an hour and 25 minutes to beat Ljubicic and advance to his second final of the year. The 2002 Wimbledon runner-up lost to Carlos Moya at the Italian Open. |
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