Sport

Safin sets up intriguing meeting with Federer

Nirmal Shekar

Sania Mirza loses to Nadia Petrova; Leander Paes & Martin Damm advance

London: Marat Safin was so very business-like and composed on the picturesque No.18 court that his stunning serenity appeared to highlight the beauty of the ambience — the rich, velvety lawn, the ivy-clad walls and the colourful, banked flower beds.

As the giant Russian calmly dealt with the not inconsiderable challenge posed by the relentlessly attacking Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan in a second round match, on Thursday, to post a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(4) victory, in the 121st Wimbledon tennis championships, you were left wondering if Safin had found access to some sort of personality botox. Face lifts are passé; now are there any psyche-lifts available?

It was a bit like standing on top of a spent, dying volcano and almost fondly recalling the blindingly brilliant fury of its eruption peak. It was hard to resist the temptation to jump onto the court — the very court where Sania Mirza’s singles run was to be terminated later in the afternoon — grab Safin by his broad shoulders, shake him up and ask him: “Hey, what’s wrong with you?”

Perhaps there is nothing wrong. Maybe Safin has just grown up; maybe he has just shed the essential duality and contradition of the Russian psyche like some sorry skin. There was a time when the chaos within this enigmatic, lovable man, within his inner self — which manifested itself in many forms on a tennis court — appeared to be a metaphor for Russia itself, providing an illuminating view into the russkaia dusha (the Russian soul).

It is easy to accept Martina Navratilova as American, easy not to think of her Czech past. It is just as easy to accept the new national allegiance of almost any athlete. But Safin — well, even if he bought a home on Mars and settled down on the red planet, you cannot think of him as anything but Russian. He is as Russian as Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Dmitri Karamazov.

Never at home on a grass court, Safin looked about as much at ease on the great, green surface as he might have ever felt. From the moment he found his first break, in the seventh game of the first set, the Russian was coasting for the most part.

To be sure, this hardly means that Qureshi at any time betrayed the mediocrity of his world ranking (279). After having come through the Roehampton qualifying minefield, this must have seemed like a garden party to the Pakistani.

Briefly outplayed in the second set, Qureshi upped the amps on his serve in the third and chipped and charged with tremendous confidence and skills to stay with the two-time Grand Slam winner before Safin stepped on the pedal for the dash home in the tiebreak.

“For me it is a huge challenge. I have to bring my best game to the court,” said Safin, who will play Roger Federer in the third round. “I have to stay focussed and take my chances.”

Safin was the last man to beat the Swiss genius on a Grand Slam surface other than clay. That was in an epic night session semifinal match at the 2005 Australian Open in Melbourne.

The breathtaking lob that Safin hit to stave off matchpoint in the fifth set is still fresh in memory. The Russian went on to win the tournament.

Federer, who has travelled some distance on the path to surpassing greatness since that loss, took care of some unfinished business on Thursday. Leading the Argentine teenager Juan Martin Del Porto by two sets and small change before the second spell — or, was it the third, or fourth? — of rains arrived at SW 19 on Wednesday, the four-time champion quickly completed a 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 victory.

Later in the afternoon, Nadia Petrova of Russia, world ranked No. 9 but seeded 11, underscored the gap that still exists between Sania Mirza and a top tenner as she raced to a 6-2, 6-2 second round victory.

After an impressive start against Yaroslava Schvedova on Tuesday, Sania realised that playing the ninth best player in the world after having dealt with No. 80 can be an intimidating task.

The Indian, who had quite a number of supporters on the No. 18 court, never really got into the match. Her victory over the big serving Russian in their only previous meeting, in San Diego two years ago, had little bearing on the day’s contest as Petrova quickly moved to over-drive.

From the moment Petrova broke Sania’s serve for the first time in the match, in the second game of the first set, the Russian was never really challenged. She took that in under half an hour with another break in the eighth game and quickly opened up a 3-0 lead in the second. The wiser ones among the Indian fans were already leaving their seats for the nearest sandwich bar.

“She (Sania) played a poor match tactically,” said Mahesh Bhupathi, her mixed doubles partner. “She should have attacked more, done a bit more on the second serve.”

In the men’s doubles event, Leander Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm, seeded five, beat Chris Haggard of South Africa and Marcin Marcowski of Poland 7-6(4), 6-3, 7-5 in a first round match.

scoreboard

(Prefix denotes seeding)

Men’s singles: Second round:

10-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt Nicolas Devilder (Fra) 6-0, 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-2; 15- Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt Jan Hernych (Cze) 6-4, 6-3, 6-4; Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) bt 17-David Ferrer (Esp) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3; Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) bt Fabrice Santoro (Fra) 6-4, 6-3, 6-4; Wayne Arthurs (Aus) bt 11-Tommy Robredo (Esp) 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3; 13-Tommy Haas (Ger) bt Tomas Zib (Cze) 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-4; 21-Dmitry Tursunov (Rus) bt Michael Berrer (Ger) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; 20-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) bt Gilles Muller (Lux) 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(8); 9-James Blake (USA) bt Andrei Pavel (Rom) 6-4, 6-3, 6-3; 19-Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) bt Wang Yeu-tzuoo (Tpe) 6-0, 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-4; 18-Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Florian Mayer (Ger) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-3; Feliciano Lopez (Esp) bt Tim Henman (Gbr) 7-6(3), 7-6(5), 3-6, 2-6, 6-1; 16-Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt Simone Bolelli (Ita) 6-2, 6-2, 6-1; 14-Lee Hyung-taik (Kor) bt 29-Agustin Calleri (Arg) 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3; 14-Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Gilles Simon (Fra) 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4; 4-Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Amer Delic, United States, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4); 28-Robin Soderling (Swe) bt Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Gael Monfils (Fra) bt Kristof Vliegen (Bel) 7-5, 7-6(4), 7-6(1); 7-Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt Michael Llodra (Fra) 7-6(4), 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(4). Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu) 6-4, 6-2, 6-3; 26-Marat Safin (Rus) bt Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(4); 1-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) 6-2, 7-5, 6-1; Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) bt 24-Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) 7-6(3), 6-4, 7-5.

Women’s singles: Second round:

4-Amelie Mauresmo bt Yvonne Meusberger (Aut) 6-1, 6-2; 23-Venus Williams (USA) bt Hana Sromova (Cze) 6-2, 6-2; 28-Mara Santangelo (Ita) bt Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 6-0, 7-6(4); 5-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Bethanie Mattek (USA) 7-6(2), 6-4; Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) bt 32-Martina Muller (Ger) 6-1, 4-0, retired; 11-Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Sania Mirza (Ind) 6-2, 6-2; Akiko Morigami (Jpn) bt 13-Dinara Safina (Rus) 6-4, 7-5; 26-Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Alize Cornet (Fra) 4-6, 6-0, 6-3; Virginia Ruano Pascual (Esp) bt Tatiana Perebiynis (Ukr) 7-5, 6-2; 2-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Severine Bremond (Fra) 6-0, 6-3.

12-Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Iveta Benesova (Cze) 6-2, 6-2; 31-Michaella Krajicek (Ned) bt Katie O’Brien (GB) 6-0, 6-1; 19-Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) bt Nika Ozegovic (Cro) 6-1, 6-1; 8-Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) bt Tatiana Poutchek (Bel) 6-2, 6-1; 14-Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) bt Nicole Pratt (Aus) 6-3, 6-2; Alena Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Agnes Szavay (Hun) 6-2, 6-3; 15-Patty Schnyder (Sui) bt Roberta Vinci (Ita) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; Victoria Azarenka (Blr) bt 21-Tathiana Garbin (Ita) 6-1, 6-3; 6-Ana Ivanovic (Srb) bt Meilen Tu (U.S.) 6-4, 6-3; Tamira Paszek (Aut) bt 17-Tatiana Golovin (Fra) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1; Aravane Rezai (Fra) bt 29-Francesca Schiavone (Ita) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; 10-Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) 7-5, 7-6(3); 25-Lucie Safarova (Cze) bt Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

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