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Safin catches fire after rain delay, rallies to down Haas
Marat Safin moved within one victory of his second Grand Slam
title, rebounding after a rain delay to beat Tommy Haas 6-7
(5), 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 Friday and reach the Australian
Open final.
On Sunday, on his 22nd birthday, Safin will meet 16th-seeded
Thomas Johansson, who outlasted unseeded Jiri Novak 7-6 (5),
0-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 Thursday night.
Safin had beaten Pete Sampras for the 2000 U.S. Open title
and ousted him here in the fourth round, but made too many
errors in the early stages against Haas.
Then, after a 50-minute rain delay with Safin leading 1-0
in the fourth set, Haas slumped and won only 11 points for
the rest of the set.
Safin stepped up the pressure and broke for 3-1 in the final
set on three Haas errors and a spectacular backhand crosscourt
serve return.
He broke again in the final game, setting up match point
with a dipping forehand crosscourt that Haas volleyed into
the net. Haas served the sixth of his double faults to end
the match of 4 hours, 28 minutes, including the rain delay.
At the start, a forehand volley miss that left Safin at 4-6
proved costly in the first-set tiebreaker. Haas finished by
drawing him in with a drop shot and hitting a backhand down
the line.
In both of the first two sets, Haas broke first, and then
was broken back.
In the second, two double faults by the German helped Safin
rebound to 3-3. The ninth-seeded Russian gained a 5-3 lead
in the tiebreaker with two winners and cashed in his second
set point with a heavy serve.
No. 7 Haas, however, saved a break point at 2-2 in the third
with a diving forehand drop volley. He gained the key break
for 4-2 by saving two game points with backhand winners, drawing
a Safin miss after a self-defense serve return, and then forcing
another error with a good forehand crosscourt.
The rain came after an afternoon when the temperature climbed
to 95 degrees, and a refreshed Safin played impeccable tennis
the rest of the way.
Safin, rebounding from a back injury early last year, was
a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon and semifinalist at the U.S.
Open, where he lost to Sampras. Lleyton Hewitt beat Sampras
in the final.
In 19 previous Grand Slam tournaments, Haas had been past
the fourth round only once, when he reached the Australian
Open semifinals in 1999.
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis
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