tennis

Roger Federer and Andy Roddick were the first among the Tennis Masters Cup participants to secure their place in the semi-finals of the Houston tournament. Both of their next victories came with great difficulty. The Swiss had to suffer with Carlos Moya, and the American defeated Marat Safin in two sets, each of which ended in a tiebreaker.

“I did everything right. I didn’t make any serious mistakes, it seems, but I lost. Probably just not my day,” said Marat Safin after the meeting with Andy Roddick. He also said that he was not too upset, since the defeat did not deprive him of the opportunity to reach the semifinals: he just had to beat Tim Henman in the next match. But here the Russian was hardly sincere: one cannot help but be upset, realizing that he missed a very close victory. And I still missed it, no matter how you look at it, precisely because of my own mistakes.

Marat Safin really did not concede anything to his opponent. In this game, which is quite typical for meetings between the leaders of Russian and American tennis, when a lethal serve leaves minimal chances for a long and beautiful rally, he fought with the king of aces on equal terms. Even the break that Andy Roddick immediately succeeded in (and one is usually more than enough for him to easily bring the game to victory) did not bother Safin. In the ninth game, when Roddick served for the set, he fought back and, logically, having saved himself in a difficult situation, he should have gained a certain psychological advantage in the tiebreaker.

Everything was fine until the score was 7:7. And then the first of Safin’s fatal mistakes happened: he was unable to execute a volley - quite a simple one. Roddick did not miss a few seconds later in a similar situation.

In the second set, it seemed that Marat Safin managed to add. And in the 12th and final game, Andy Roddick was on the verge of losing. Safin received three set points at once. But - the mistakes at decisive moments continued - he did not realize any of them: Roddick was saved by his serve. The Russian lost the last point of the game by sending the ball into the net, and, angry, split his racket in half to the enthusiastic screams of the audience who seemed to be waiting for such a show. And everyone knows very well that hitting rackets for Safin rarely ends in something good.

It didn't end well this time either. With the score 3:3 in the tiebreaker, Andy Roddick played another unbreakable serve, and a couple of minutes later he finished the match with his 15th ace, leaving Safin no choice: the Russian must defeat Tim Henman, who on the same day defeated an openly weak performer at the tournament in Houston Guillermo Coria.

Roger Federer's third victory at the Masters Cup was surprisingly difficult. In fact, Carlos Moya is a convenient opponent for the Swiss. Before Houston, they met four times - and Federer won all four matches. Few people expected that the fifth fight would be a special fight.

But there was a struggle. Carlos Moya did not give up after giving away the first game, and played extremely confidently in the second. Perhaps the Spaniard's persistence came as a complete surprise to the world number one. In any case, the stable Federer began to make one mistake after another. In principle, Moya could have won the second game with a larger score than 6:3 if he had not “forgiven” his opponent on set points a couple of times. In general, nothing was clear before the decisive set.

But the eclipse that struck the Swiss still passed. He pulled himself together and in the second game of the game put the finishing touches on Moya, who was desperately resisting and fought off as many as three break points with a smash.

ALEXEY J-DOSPEKHOV

Marat Safin broke down in tiebreaks