Safin Triumphs
Sunday, 30 January, 2005
by Luke Buttigieg
Russian Marat Safin has crashed local hope Lleyton Hewitt's party, recovering from a set down to claim the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup as Australian Open men's singles champion at his third attempt.
Beaten by Thomas Johansson in 2002 and Roger Federer 12 months ago in the decider at Melbourne Park, Safin looked set for more heartbreak when he surrendered the opening set to a fired-up Hewitt in just 23 minutes.
But the No.4 seed lifted his output and squared the match with the only break of the second set, before then rallying from a break down in the third to run away with the match and prevail 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 in two hours and 45 minutes.
Safin was worn out and simply couldn't stay with Federer in 2004, having endured several long matches coming in, but after those two heartbreaking losses, he is now a Grand Slam champion for a second time, following his 2000 US Open victory.
Having taken a hip flexor injury into the tournament, and then been forced to endure two five-set matches and a quartet of four-setters, fatigue appeared to play a big part in No.3 seed Hewitt's performance as the match wore on.
And having won the 2001 US Open title and Wimbledon the following year, he will have to wait at least another year to achieve his dream of a home Grand Slam triumph, when it will also be 30 years since Australian Mark Edmondson's 1976 victory.
After holding serve in the first game of the match No.3 seed Hewitt then broke in the second game and held again for a 3-0 lead, and his patient tactics of going to the Safin backhand paid dividends again in the sixth game with another break.
That allowed him to serve for the set and with 26 points to only 11, six winners to Safin's five and just one unforced error to his opponent's 13, as it was plain to see what made the difference early.
After Safin held serve in the first game of the second set Hewitt was forced to dig deep to do likewise, but it was a sign of things to come as Safin then broke in the fourth to lead 3-1 and staved off two break points in the ninth game to level the contest after 66 minutes.
Safin was starting to find the lines with his forehand, but some superb returns from Hewitt allowed him to break in the second game and race 3-0 clear, at which point Safin called for treatment on his upper legs.
The next two games went with serve but, after being down 1-4 midway through the set, Safin suddenly began to find his rhythm with his backhand as well and broke back with his third opportunity.
The set was quickly over as Safin also won the next three games to suddenly lead by a set, and Hewitt called for treatment on his hip injury, using the full three-minute injury time-out he was allowed.
Having won the final five games of the third set, Safin extended his run to seven games by breaking a third time in succession in the first game of the fourth set, and though he had further chances to break, Hewitt held on to force him to serve it out.
But Safin was not to be denied, and held brilliantly to love in the 10th game to secure a famous victory, while Hewitt has now lost his past two Grand Slam finals, having also been defeated by Federer in the US Open final last September.
• The sets lasted 23, 42, 58 and 42 minutes, respectively
• Safin served 18 aces, Hewitt 7
• Safin hit 54 winners, Hewitt 3
::)It has to be a mistake here... 
• Safin won 122 points, Hewitt 113
• Safin made 36 unforced errors, Hewitt 22
• Safin converted 4 of 11 break point chances, Hewitt 3 of 8
• Safin put 60% of his first serves into play, Hewitt 49%
• Safin won 73% of points on his first serve, Hewitt 70%
• Safin won 25 of 42 points (60%) when he came to the net, Hewitt 10 of 17 (59%)
• Safin's fastest serve was clocked at 215 km/h, Hewitt's 202 km/h
;D
time to party! 
