In all my excitement I forgot to ask if anyone saw the match, Marat' singles, cause when i was following on mtf someone said that when Marat was about to serve
(can't remember at what point) his racquet BROKE
LOL but I checked a couple of other reports after and apparently the crowd, Marat and the umpire had some fun with this, and that Marat even pulled up his shirt sleeves and was flexing his muscles ROTFL I wish I could have seen this. ;D
Has to be a first ever and some fault with the racquet, breaking on serve wow!!
Anyone saw the match?
I haven´t, but I know he broke a racquet while serving because they said this while broadcasting Gaudio´s match.... I suposed in that moment it was because he threw it and then served with the same racquet.....
But now, I don´t know
. It seems it was a funny moment..... But I can´t find photos
Safin recovers to beat Novak in Rome By James Eve
ROME, May 3 (Reuters) - Australian Open champion Marat Safin overcame a shaky start to beat Jiri Novak 6-7 6-1 6-1 in the first round of the Rome Masters on Tuesday.
The second seed, who has never progressed beyond the last 16 on the Italian capital's slow clay courts, began aggressively against the Czech.
Having established a 4-1 lead, however, unforced errors started to creep into his game, allowing Novak to break twice and serve for the set.
Safin rallied to force a tiebreak, but some more wayward shots, including a volley that looped wide of an open court, gifted the set to his opponent.
For a moment it seemed the Russian might be heading for another early exit, but he regrouped, found his range and closed out the second set in just 26 minutes.
Safin's dominance continued in the decider. The drop shot Novak pushed into the net to lose serve in the second game signalled the end of his resistance.
"I don't know what happened (in the first set)," admitted Safin, who next faces qualifier Nicolas Almagro of Spain.
"I think I was a little bit over-confident and tried to finish the first set too fast. I started to make some mistakes and lost my confidence."
Safin was joined in the second round by ninth seed Guillermo Coria, who took almost three hours to battle past Chile's Fernando Gonazalez 7-6 5-7 6-4.
Eighth seed David Nalbandian of Argentina became the highest-ranked casualty of the tournament so far when he went down 6-4 1-6 6-4 to Fabrice Santoro of France.
Safin, Coria win three-setters at Rome MastersROME (AP) - Marat Safin showed some muscle and Guillermo Coria needed just one service break in three-set victories on clay Tuesday to reach the second round of the Rome Masters.
Safin, the Australian Open champion, rallied to beat Jiri Novak 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-1. Coria, the French Open runner-up, edged Fernando Gonzalez 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-4.
Also, eighth-seeded David Nalbandian, last year's runner-up in Rome, lost to France's Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, and Julien Benneteau eliminated 13th-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-1, 6-0.
Safin, seeded second, surrendered a 5-2 lead in the first set before storming through the final two sets.
``I don't know what happened,'' the Russian said. ``I think I was a little overconfident and tried to play really fast. Unfortunately, I made a couple of mistakes and lost my confidence. But in the second set I got my game back.
``Even though I lost the first set, I came back, that's a good sign,'' Safinsaid.
As Safin connected on a serve in the first set, his racket broke and he was left holding only the grip, prompting him to entertain the crowd by pointing to his right biceps.
``I broke my racket once on a smash, this time it was a serve,'' the 6-foot-4 Safin said.Coria, seeded ninth, broke Gonzalez for the first time in the seventh game of the third set when the Chilean hit two forehands long. He then maintained the advantage and closed the matchin 2 hours, 50 minutes.
``I had to work until the last game,'' the Argentine said. ``It's very tough to play against a player that's hitting missiles all the time.''
Gonzalez, with big, looping strokes, is ranked 20th and is one of the top nonseeded players in the draw. He produced a spectacular cross-court passing shot from far off the playing surface at 2-2 in the third set. The shot earned Gonzalez a roar of approval from the crowd, and the Chilean responded by taking his cap off to salute the fans.
Coria was also on his game, and removed his hat following a delicate lob winner at 3-3 in the third set.
The $2.7 million Rome Masters is a major clay-court tuneup for the French Open, which begins May 23.
Earlier, 15th-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic defeated Mario Ancic of Croatia 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3; Nicolas Kiefer eliminated 2002 Rome finalist Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the head-to-head series between the Germans; and Alberto Martin won 6-0, 1-0 when Germany's Rainer Schuettler retired with a wrist injury.
Later Tuesday, Rafael Nadal - who is a tour-best 25-2 on clay this season - was to face Mikhail Youzhny, and defending champion Carlos Moya was to meet Italian wild card Potito Starace.
But now, I don´t know 
