Dateline: 01/21/01

Marat Safin should thank Tennis Australia for choosing the Rebound Ace court surface for this year's Australian Open. No, the rubbery surface didn't help him overcome a mountain of unforced errors that led to his loss to Domonik Hrbaty 6-2, 7-6(6), 6-4 in Sunday's fourth-round match, but it almost certainly deserves credit for the survival of his racquet. The poor thing took almost as many bounces as any one of the balls, with Safin flinging it down repeatedly in frustration. Safin, the second seed, was off-target, but Hrbaty, the fourteenth seed, clearly earned his win by sustaining a high level of both aggressiveness and consistency. Hrbaty served well, ran Safin with nicely placed, hard groundstrokes, and even closed some key points by coming to the net, which is not his favorite territory.

Safin's stunning domination of Pete Sampras at last year's U.S. Open led to high expectations for this first Grand Slam of the year, but he hasn't been playing well recently, perhaps still troubled by elbow problems that he attributes to some flaw in his serving technique. Hrbaty, on the other hand, came into this Australian Open fresh from a win at the Heineken Open in Auckland. He faces Patrick Rafter next.

Pete Sampras's racquet had an easier day than Safin's, but he still joins Safin in exiting this Australian Open. Todd Martin earned his first Grand Slam win over Sampras 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 by returning serve exceptionally well and, as usual, serving big. This is obviously a huge win for Martin, but it isn't a huge surprise. Sampras, seeded third, struggled in his three preceding matches and has looked generally sluggish and off form. He tends not to endure heat as well as many of the other players, and the high bounces coming off the Australian courts this year amplify one of his few weaknesses, his high backhand groundstroke.

Next Page