Safin dumps Roddick in Open upset
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Marat Safin had cause to celebrate on his 24th birthday as he beat top seeded Roddick.
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MELBOURNE, Australia -- World number one Andy Roddick was sent crashing from the Australian Open as unseeded Russian Marat Safin prevailed in a gripping quarterfinal in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Safin, who has been plagued by injury since winning the U.S. Open, won 2-6 6-3 7-5 6-7 6-4 in a five set marathon on the Rod Laver Arena.
Roddick was broken in the ninth game of the decider to leave Safin to serve out to earn a semifinal clash with defending champion Andre Agassi.
Safin's ranking had slipped to 86th after tearing ligaments in his left wrist during a first-round match at Melbourne Park last year.
But no one has ever questioned his talent, and after a slow start against the 21-year-old Roddick, he showed his skills haven't eroded.
For nearly 3 1/2 hours, they matched ace for ace and swapped line drives in long baseline rallies.
Safin's underdog status won over much of the crowd as he came back from dropping the first set while making 18 unforced errors. But Roddick had his own fervent fans, including a trio of young men in star-adorned red, white and blue skirts and "U," "S" and "A" painted on their bare chests on a cool night.
Safin called for a trainer, who massaged the inside of his left thigh, after the first and third games of the second set, but didn't seem to be bothered afterward.
Safin broke Roddick's vaunted serve for the second time to finish off the set. Roddick fended off two set points while fighting back from 0-40, then watched as Safin's return of a 212 kph (125 mph) serve caught the line at his feet.
There were no break opportunities in the third set until Roddick made four errors while serving at 5-6.
Roddick evened the match by winning the fourth-set tiebreaker 7-0 and seemed to have the momentum as he continually threatened the Russian's servive at the start of the deciding set.
But at 4-4 Roddick played a loose game, netting a backhand at 15-30, then tapping a forehand volley into the net to hand Safin the break.
Roddick fought to the last and held two break points as Safin served for the match, but he was finally undone by a pair of forehand winners.
He left the court just before the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to Safin, who turned 24 on Tuesday. He is 0-2 against the former top-ranked Russian.
* Andy Roddick and Robby Ginepri were picked by captain Patrick McEnroe on Tuesday to play singles for the United States against Austria in the first round of the Davis Cup next month.
McEnroe also selected twins Bob and Mike Bryan to play doubles, and Mardy Fish as a back-up singles player.
