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Safin, Mauresmo advance at Australian Open
Marat Safin picked himself up after twisting his right ankle and beat hard-serving Mario Ancic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 Friday to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open.
The fourth-ranked Safin, who lost in last year's finals, led by a set and a break when he twisted his ankle and fell on his face near the baseline while trying to return Ancic's winning forehand in the third game of the fourth set. Safin got up, limped back to his chair and was treated by ATP trainer Per Bastholt, who gave the Russian player a pill and wound more tape around his already heavily taped ankle. Safin returned to wrap up his next service game at love with an ace, joking with a line judge who'd earlier called one of his serves wide. He advanced on his second match point when the 28th-seeded Ancic couldn't handle a slice backhand and dumped a forehand into the net. The match lasted 2 hours, 45 minutes. Ancic reached the semifinals at Wimbledon last year, upsetting Britain's Tim Henman in the quarterfinals, and was a tough, third-round opponent for Safin. "It's difficult to have a game plan against him. He mixes it up so much," Safin said. "You have to hang in there and wait for opportunities." Safin broke Ancic — who misfired with seven double-faults — once in each set and lost his service just twice in the second set. Both players were demonstrative, castigating themselves behind the baseline. Safin often kicked the ball like a soccer player and knocked his head with his knuckles, trying to regain focus. "It's a wake-up call," Safin said. "Sometimes my head goes away and doesn't come back — I have to get it back here." French Open champion Gaston Gaudio needed treatment on both thighs during his 4 hour, 21-minute marathon loss to Dominik Hrbaty. Hrbaty broke Gaudio's serve, for the 10th time, and then served out for a 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 victory. Hrbaty hit 70 winners, while Gaudio had 48. While Safin and Gaudio continued after injuries, American Lisa Raymond couldn't overcome muscle strains in her back and had to retire after one game of her second-round women's doubles match. The WTA Tour said Raymond was being examined, and her status was in doubt for her third-round singles match Saturday against third-ranked Anastasia Myskina. In women's singles, second-ranked Amelie Mauresmo beat Serbian teenager Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 7-5. The 17-year-old Ivanovic broke Mauresmo's serve twice in the second set, but dropped her next two service games. After having game point to force a second-set tiebreaker, Ivanovic struggled to combat Mauresmo's backhand and made a string of errors, surrendering the match. Mauresmo rose to the No. 1 ranking last September before slipping behind Lindsay Davenport. Ivanovic made the biggest leap in the rankings on the WTA Tour in 2004, moving 608 spots to finish at No. 97.
The 25-year-old Mauresmo, a finalist here in 1999, said Friday's third-round win was part of her progression to, "hopefully," her first major title. "It's a long way still, three matches down, four to go and some good players still in the field," she said. "I'm happy with how things are going. Hopefully, I get closer and closer to the No. 1 spot." She next faces Evgenia Linetskaya, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over American Amy Frazier, seeded 21st. In other matches, 15th-seeded Silvia Farina Elia cruised past British qualifier Elena Baltacha 6-1, 6-0. Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova was to face China's Li Na, and seventh-seeded Serena Williams is scheduled to meet Sania Mirza later Friday. On the men's side, top-ranked Roger Federer goes for his career-best 24th straight win against Jarkko Nieminen, and four-time champion Andre Agassi faces fellow American Taylor Dent. In a much-hyped showdown between the two biggest servers in tennis Thursday, Andy Roddick beat Greg Rusedski 6-0, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the third round. The second-seeded Roddick owns the record for fastest serve, at 155 mph, but the big difference in the match was Roddick's returns. He hit winners with almost as much speed as they had coming off Rusedski's racket. "It was just clicking for me," said Roddick, who shared the record for the fastest serve with Rusedski, the 1997 U.S. Open runner-up, until twice breaking the mark last season. Roddick gave Federer something to think about with a nearly flawless performance, the 2003 U.S. Open champion committing only eight unforced errors and dropped serve just once. No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt rallied from a set and a break down to beat James Blake 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-0, 6-3. Blake's fortunes turned when he cut his racket hand in a desperate lunge in a rally at the end of the second set. Venus Williams beat China's Peng Shuai 6-3, 6-1, while No. 1-ranked Davenport and No. 3 Myskina both had nervous moments before advancing. Davenport appeared to be still overcoming bronchitis that restricted her buildup before earning a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over 99th-ranked Michaela Pastikova. Myskina fell behind 3-1 in the first set, but regained control in a four-game streak while ousting No. 114 Tzipora Obziler 6-4, 6-2.
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