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Under his spell No. 2 seed Safin ousted, again at hands of Santoro
PARIS (Reuters) -- Second seed Marat Safin fell foul of his French jinx again on Saturday, crashing out in the third round at Roland Garros to his nemesis Fabrice Santoro in a five-set thriller. The unseeded Frenchman, cheered on by a boisterous crowd on a chilly, blustery Centre Court, took three hours and 12 minutes to overcome the towering, mercurial Russian 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 0-6, 6-1. It was the sixth time in seven meetings that Tahiti-born Santoro had cast his voodoo spell on the U.S. Open champion as he achieved his best performance at Roland Garros since 1991. "I hope I won't have to wait another 10 years for this to happen," Santoro joked after throwing his towel into the stands in triumph. He admitted he as good as conceded the fourth set because he was exhausted. "At the end of the third set I felt I had to drop the fourth," Santoro said. "I know it was a risk but I needed 20 or 25 minutes rest. After that it was a flawless performance." Safin, the highest men's seed to exit the tournament, had largely himself to blame for a shaky start in his first encounter with Santoro on clay. A quarterfinalist at Roland Garros last year, he committed a string of unforced errors in the opening two sets and was trailing 4-2 in the third before cranking up his performance. The 21-year-old world No. 2 then roared back, winning 11 straight games, before Santoro came good again and turned the tables, clinching six games in a row to win the match. The strain showed in game five of the final set when, having earlier shouted at the crowd to "shut up," Safin smashed his racket in frustration after losing a point. Safin later refused to attend the post-match news conference, incurring a $10,000 fine from the organizers. The Russian has played on through tournaments this year despite a lingering back injury he suffered in February and the fine marked a sorry end to a nightmare day. It was Santoro who ended Safin's 12-match winning streak last year, beating him in the first round at the Sydney Olympics, and the Russian has now lost 15 of his 25 matches against French players. The 29-year-old Santoro, who is British-based, is ranked 43rd in the world. The French nickname him "Le Cuisinier" (The Cook) for his ability to rustle up a varied diet of playing styles that can often wrong-foot his opponents. "I knew what I was going to do and I knew he was a bit afraid of me," he said. Santoro will meet Alex Corretja of Spain, seeded 13th, in the last 16 with no illusions about his chances. "The statistics will be reversed. I was leading 5-1 against Safin [in match wins] but I'm afraid this time it's the other way around," he said.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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