| Wednesday, 2 July 2008 Written by Kate Battersby
Marat Safin continued to defy his lowly ranking of 75 in the world to set up an intriguing semi-final clash against Roger Federer, the champion who for so long has held the "world's best player" status that was once the proud preserve of the Russian.
In a match first delayed and then interrupted by rain on No.1 Court, the two-time Grand Slam winner continued his unforeseen love affair with this year's Wimbledon championships with a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 win over the 31st seed Feliciano Lopez. Lopez will wonder how his grasp on this match came loose. He came into this match with a 4-1 winning record over Safin, including their one previous Wimbledon encounter in 2005. For the first three sets this match always felt as if the 26-year-old Spaniard should be in control, but it was only in the first of these that he could make it count. Even that was largely because Safin's serving in the first set was at 25%. He appeared out of sorts – not in that manner unique to Safin which means he is actually quite enjoying himself - but in a way that made you wonder if this was the end of his personal road at Wimbledon 2008. The 28-year-old Muscovite was required to haul back four break points on his opening service game alone, before a netcord gave Lopez the early break for 1-3. Frustration was already bubbling in Safin and the next game he hurled his racket to the turf. Moments later after another mistake he was so irritated that he struck a ball out of the court and on to the roof, earning a warning for a code violation from umpire Steve Ullrich. By now the rain was pattering and play had already stopped over on Centre Court. Safin, 2-5 down, was keen to stop in order to regroup and eventually Ullrich agreed with the match 27 minutes old. It was almost two-and-a-half hours before they could restart , whereupon the set duly proceeded to its natural conclusion. But Lopez required four set points to do it, and there were already signs that the break had done Safin good. Come the second set Safin's serve began to creep up over the 50% mark. At 3-2 the Russian ratcheted it up a notch, getting back two smashes with improbable lobs, the last of which Lopez dumped in the net for 15-40. With the crowd bellowing Safin on, Lopez netted for 2-4, only for Safin to get sufficiently careless to hand the break right back. For the first time the sun appeared, just in time to see Lopez waver again at 5-6, sending a forehand into the net for two set points. He served his way out of trouble on one, but on the other Safin had him scurrying about the court. Lopez, who should surely have been two sets up, found himself pegged back level. Even so, it still felt that the third set was more crucial to Safin's chances of victory than his opponent's. Just as well, then, that having broken Lopez at the end of the second, he had the advantage of serving first in the third. As it was it could hardly have been closer. These two have a history of playing close sets with just one break or none at all. Sometimes one glance at a sheet of match statistics is enough to tell the story, but in this case they were difficult to separate and it came down to who played the break points best. Both were putting everything into it, with long rallies common - there was one of 38 strokes at 3-3. Safin saved break point with an ace at 4-4, doing a great deal of elaborate shrugging on points both won and lost. The Russian made some great gets to take it into the tie-break, and then got off to the best start with a wonderful backhand volley – made with his back to the net – for the early mini-break. Assorted Lopez errors and Safin gymnastics saw the latter wrap up the tiebreak 7-1. Lopez was dazed, and Safin decided to give him a little more time to wonder just how the match was getting away from him by taking a bathroom break. A long Lopez forehand saw the early break for 2-1, and the Spaniard was sufficiently destabilised to give Safin another break for 5-2. Unexpectedly Safin failed to serve it out and gave a break back, but Lopez served a double-fault on Safin's second match point to put the Russian through.
| Court 1 - Gentlemen's Singles - Quarterfinals | |
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