If tomorrow's Australian Open men's final follows the pattern of the previous 12 days, then Sweden's Thomas Johansson is home and dry. On the other hand, should the tournament finally run to form, then Russia's Marat Safin will surely claim his second grand- slam title, having defeated Pete Sampras in the 2000 US Open.
The pattern was set early. By the third round here Tim Henman at number six was the top seed left in a competition that had begun with the withdrawal of Andre Agassi, the reigning champion, and had fragmented, in terms of the leading players, at an alarming rate thereafter.
Tommy Haas, who had picked up the mantle of top seed by the semi-finals, duly went the way of all favourite flesh yesterday when he was defeated 6-7, 7-6, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 by Safin. Haas, the number seven seed, appeared unaware of his doom when he established a lead of two sets to one over ninth seed Safin. This was not the Safin who had beaten Sampras at Flushing Meadows in straight sets or the one who had repeated the dose here over four sets.
Although the young Muscovite, who will be 22 tomorrow, was dressed in his normal tennis shirt and shorts, it appeared that someone had sewn lead into the seams. He called for medical attention shortly after his service was broken in the second set, having lost the first-set tie-break.
And herein lay the intrigue of this semi-final. So poorly was Safin playing that something was clearly badly wrong with the Russian's preparation, even though he won the second set when Haas became temporarily freaked by the loud chirping of mynah birds.
Questioned afterwards, Safin would reveal nothing. "It is a secret. I made a small mistake and misunderstanding with my doctor," he said. "I couldn't move my legs at the start of the match." By everybody's reckoning, including his own, Safin had been lucky when South Africa's Wayne Ferreira pulled out of their quarter-final on Wednesday with a torn stomach muscle in the opening set. And good fortune was not about to desert Safin against Haas.
It is tempting to speculate that prior to the semi-final, with Melbourne experiencing intense heat, Safin had asked for salt pills and been given sleeping pills instead. Haas duly gave his opponent the run-around. By the end of the third set Haas was poised to become the first German grand-slam finalist since Michael Stich at the 1996 French Open. Then it rained.
Safin greeted the first drops with almost reverential gratitude. The roof was closed, the court dried off and a little more than 50 minutes later the Russian returned transformed. He won 27 of the next 38 points to level the match and then hung Haas out to dry. Behold Safin, the vulnerable maggot, become Safin, the viciously stinging wasp.
"I don't make any miracles," said Safin. "I moved back a little bit when receiving his serve but having a massage was the main thing." Suddenly the Russian was hitting the ball as sweetly and powerfully as he had against Sampras, and poor Haas was unzipped.
Now only Johansson stands in Safin's way. The Swede, aged 26 and the number 16 seed, had never reached a grand-slam semi-final prior to this week.If Safin is 100 per cent focused and his preparation is spot on, then he should have too much fire power for the Swede tomorrow. But beware the curse of the leading seed.
MEN'S SINGLES: Semi-final: (9) M Safin (Rus) bt (7) T Haas (Ger) 6-5 (5-7) 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-0 6-2. WOMEN'S DOUBLES: Final: (8) M Hingis (Swi) and A Kournikova (Rus) bt (13) D Hantuchova (Svk) and A Sanchez-Vicario (Spa) 6-2 6-7 (4-7) 6-1. ...
