TENNIS/US Open: Second seed Marat Safin progressed to the second round of the US Open in dramatic style last night. The Russian looked in trouble when trailing Germany's Nicolas Kiefer by two sets to one, but with Kiefer suffering from leg cramps, Safin prevailed in five sets, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
The 2000 champion broke twice to claim the first set in 37 minutes before the inconsistency that dogs his game struck, and when Kiefer took the next two sets an upset looked likely.
However, Safin broke at 5-4 in the fourth to take the match into a tense final set, where he led 4-2 only for Kiefer to break straight back.
A break of serve each made it 5-4, and Safin had two match points at 6-5 but was unable to capitalise as Kiefer, now struggling with cramp, forced a tie-break.
After collapsing at 6-3 down, Kiefer recovered to win the next point, but finally succumbed on Safin's fourth match point.
Spain's Carlos Moya, the French Open champion four years ago, first came to world prominence not on clay, but on the hard courts of Melbourne where in 1997 he reached the Australian Open final, losing to Pete Sampras. Back problems have hampered his career, but prior to the start of this year's US Open he defeated Lleyton Hewitt, the world number one, in the final of the Tennis Masters Series in Cincinnati, the Australian's first defeat in 11 finals.
That victory saw Moya, a former world number one, climb back into the top 10, and persuaded some that he might mount a serious challenge for this year's US Open title, having been a semi-finalist in 1998, the same year that he won the French title. Yesterday he duly won his opening match, defeating Romania's Adrian Voinea 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6.
There was less good fortune for Australia's Mark Philippoussis, who had to retire in his first-round match against Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands after badly jarring his left knee, which has caused him continuous problems.
The US Tennis Association honoured the victims of September 11th in a moving ceremony at the start of the tournament's first night session yesterday. Understandably security is much tighter this year, although this being New York it is not without humour, with sniffer dogs having their own ID tags, complete with photos.
Andre Agassi played all the right shots in beating his fellow American Robby Ginepri in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, and then made all the right noises. "I've always appreciated the heart and spirit of New Yorkers. I think what they have lived through in the last year has been a clear reflection of that heart and spirit. To be here is a privilege and to be able to add to that is a true honour."
Nobody ever wants to lose their opening match at a slam, but the very fact that Corina Morariu played at all was more than enough for all her family and friends, and the player herself. The 24-year-old American, whose career was halted by leukaemia, was beaten 6-2, 6-3 under the floodlights by Serena Williams, the number one seed and reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion, but as she said afterwards: "I didn't think I would ever get back here."
Morariu remains on oral chemotherapy, and has regular blood and bone marrow tests, but the cancer is in remission after nine months' treatment. "When you have a tough time walking up the stairs in your house it is tough to imagine you are ever going to play again, let alone compete with Serena."
In truth the competition did not last long, although Williams was far from her best. "I was very, very rusty and very erratic," she said, while dismissing any suggestion that the knee tendinitis that caused her to miss a recent tournament in Montreal was in any way to blame.
It was the nature of Williams' dress that caused rather more of a stir than her tennis, a shiny black Lycra outfit she likened to a "catsuit", having rebuked the suggestion that it looked like a wetsuit that might have come with flipper, mask, and snorkel.
