MC R1: Safin def Malisse 6-3 6-2

Very good display from big man. Strong shots, accurate most of the times, X-man had no answer at all. :worship:

excellent job marat, what a quick win :eek: under an hour, wish they televised this instead of chela-bolelli and karlovic-grosjean :(

excellent serve statistics, 71% first serve points won, 60% on the second serve... converted every one of his four break points :yeah: not to mention 7 aces! on clay :worship:

hope he does well in his next match :yeah: too lazy to look at the draw, anyone have any idea who he plays next?

shame that he'll play a hot Ferrer in next round

You had this open and ready to go at 40-0 didn't you?

Safin played very well today, the backhand down the line and the serve worked well.

Malisse had 3 bps at 2-2 in the first set, but didn't convert and was broken the next game, after that it was all Safin.

:worship:

shame that he'll play a hot Ferrer in next round

I don't think that Pics is playing his best right now. If Marat plays like today he might pull a surprise here.

:woohoo: Well done Marat!!!

Pics will be a tough nut to crack and to be quite honest i'm not sure if i want him to crack, but that 2nd round match will be highly enjoyable :angel:

I don't think that Pics is playing his best right now. If Marat plays like today he might pull a surprise here.

Pics is far from his best but he still won a tournament last week, I can only see him getting better with each match

shame that he'll play a hot Ferrer in next round

Ferrer won Valencia, playing well below his peak level. At least he will be a bit rested and will be tougher for Safin in theory.

Malisse had his wrist taped up after the 1st set, hope he hasn't done too much damage, though Safin inflicted damage on his game.

marat safin superstar

You had this open and ready to go at 40-0 didn't you?

Safin played very well today, the backhand down the line and the serve worked well.

Malisse had 3 bps at 2-2 in the first set, but didn't convert and was broken the next game, after that it was all Safin.

No, I didn't. I pressed submit at the moment when Xavier shot that FH DTL. It was clear that it will be wide.
Of course that thread was ready already at 5:2 but didn't post it until the match finished.

wow Marat :banana: :yeah:
got back just too late but this makes up for it

Great stuff from Marat. :worship:

great job Marat :bounce:

imo it was more a case of Malisse playing badly, than Marat being very good. but hopefuly Ferrer is tired from last week

http://smileys.sur-la-toile.com/repository/Divers/ygouw8.gif Bravo, bravo, bravo ! http://smileys.sur-la-toile.com/repository/Divers/ygouw8.gif

Expected a closer match but good to see Safin play more than decently - question is for how much longer? Maybe I should vBet against him next time too as the Russian's won twice in a row now when I've done so :p Much as I like Pics, I would certainly not mind Marat getting past him when they meet...

Nice and easy is also fine by me, Safin ;)

Good job and best of luck against Ferrer.

Damn, I missed the match. Great result though.

shame that he'll play a hot Ferrer in next round

I wonder how much damage did Pics do to his thigh and as someone said, Ferrer is not in top shape. :p

imo it was more a case of Malisse playing badly, than Marat being very good. but hopefuly Ferrer is tired from last week

I agree, not to take anything from Marat of course. :)
Would be totally awesome to FINALLY get 2 wins in a row. :o

Good to see Marat playing well but X-man... :sobbing:
Just hope his wrist is ok

Bravo Marat.

One match at a time..

Two of my favourite players to watch when they're on form, didn't mind which way this one went. Well done to Safin, though I didn't see the match looks like he strung together a good solid performance.

Good win for Safin and a good performance. I don't think he would've won by doing it but Malisse should've been more patient. It was working when he was doing it but he couldn't help himslef from hitting out and making the error.

Stebs, do you still think "At best Safin can be a top 150 player"?

(And no I am not saying that he is making his way to the top 10 after a couple of good wins, he just seems to be playing better than last year)

Well done Marat!!!:):):)

Stebs, do you still think "At best Safin can be a top 150 player"?

(And no I am not saying that he is making his way to the top 10 after a couple of good wins, he just seems to be playing better than last year)

I never said that. I said at best he is a top 50 player with a high level of variance and yes I stick by that. That's not to say if he gets a nice draw and plays some nic tennis at some big tournaments his ranking might get higher than that for a time because that's very possible but consistently inhabiting the top 30 or 25 is something I don't see happening again.

I never said that. I said at best he is a top 50 player with a high level of variance and yes I stick by that.

So what was it you said about being top 150?

So what was it you said about being top 150?

I don't remember saying anything like that. Only thing I can imagine I may have said (guessing here) is that Safin at his best is a top 50 player with high variance and at worst is just a steady top 150. I would stick by that also.

Yeah I got it mudled up, this is the post I was talking about.
http://www.menstennisforums.com/showpost.php?p=6724259&postcount=26

I hope he can get his ranking up much higher, he has to take it one match at a time right now, so hopefully he beats Ferrer tommorow, who I am hoping will be a bit tired.

Yeah I got it mudled up, this is the post I was talking about.
http://www.menstennisforums.com/showpost.php?p=6724259&postcount=26

I hope he can get his ranking up much higher, he has to take it one match at a time right now, so hopefully he beats Ferrer tommorow, who I am hoping will be a bit tired.

Well he will continue to deteriorate physically in all likelihood so I think he only has a short amount of time to put together some good runs and reach top 30 for a final time which I think could happen though not for an extended period. The bracket of rankings in which he can be are slowly getting worse even as he is playing good tennis.

didn't expect to have such a score. Well done. Next match will be difficult. Marat hasn't had luck with the draw lately. He has to face hot players so early. But good luck for tomorrow.

:yeah:

Good win Marat ... :banana:

Good win!!!

come on Marat- I want you back in the mix.

Didn't see it but, woah...

Hope he keeps it up.

:aparty:

when he's healthy and on his game, he's still a tough match for anybody.

From the highlights he looked like he was playing great, his backhand looked really sweet.

Hopefully taping his wrist is just a precaution, Malisse! :(

flawless tennis from Marat

sorry malisse, but a good win for safin

From the highlights he looked like he was playing great, his backhand looked really sweet.

Where do you watch the highlight???

Safin in the 2nd round :banana: finally :lol:

Now, take Ferrer out, Marat!!!!! :rocker2:

Go Hippo :)

he play great against tough players, lets see if he can repeat a good victori against a spanish player as he did it the last week.:worship::worship::worship:

Where do you watch the highlight???

I paid a years subscription to ATP Masters Series TV. Get the live matches and interviews and stuff.

Can Safin win his next match? Nope.

Coming from the guy who used to support Safin in his glory days, then throws him to the kerb after his injury in 2005. Very classy. :yeah:

From the highlights he looked like he was playing great, his backhand looked really sweet.

Indeed, BH was strong, flat and accurate and what is most important very consistent from that wing. On the other hand FH was shaky from time to time.

Overall his forehand looks much better this year than last. He used to actually have a very good forehand, although the backhand was always the killer shot.

:speakles: :speakles: :speakles:

Marat .... :eek::eek::eek:

A straight set win :woohoo: :banana: :worship: :yeah:

Go for Ferrer now, 2 wins in a row will sound :drool:

Davai Marat!!! Time to win two in a row! Make some progress.

Good win for Marat, at least he justified the WC.

You had this open and ready to go at 40-0 didn't you?
lol! :lol: I have to say, I was surprised to see Marat's name in bold (as a winner) on livescore.com...is that evil? :o

He's amazing when he wins and a joker when he loses,isn't he? ;)

Well done, Marat. It's nice to see him win easily without much drama :worship:

Good, now lose to Ferrer and get me some vcash you assface:)

:woohoo: :woohoo:

a good day for Marat's fans :)

Straight sets win. :eek:

Good to see Safin winning more regularly. :yeah: Hopefully he puts in a good performance against Ferrer.

From the highlight, I can see Marat was very confident. Hope he can show up like that today.