Fox Sports, Australia
29 Oct. 2004

Safin outclasses Armenian
>>From correspondents in St Petersburg, Russia
October 29, 2004

RUSSIAN top seed Marat Safin outclassed Armenian Sargis Sargsian 6-4
6-2 today to reach the quarter-finals of the St Petersburg Open.

Earlier, Safin’s fourth-seeded countryman, Mikhail Youzhny, defeated an
error-prone Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-5 3-6 6-2. And seventh-seeded
Michael Llodra of France eliminated German qualifier Michael Kohlmann
7-6 (7-3) 6-3, while Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic outlasted Spanish veteran
Alex Corretja 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6).

Safin, champion here in 2000 and 2001, is looking for a second
consecutive title, having won the Madrid Masters last week, and his
third this season.

“Everything worked out. I’m satisfied with my game today. If it goes
like this, I have good chances to play well in this tournament,” he
said.

Safin is sixth in the ATP Champions Race with 472 points, eight behind
Guillermo Coria and 12 behind Carlos Moya. With both skipping the
tournament this week, Safin has good chances to move into fourth next
week.

Youzhny, who won his only title in 2002, capitalised on Mirnyi’s 11
double faults. He broke the Belarusian in the 11th game of the opening
set to lead, but Mirnyi evened the match by breaking the Russian in the
sixth game of the second set.

In the third, Mirnyi double faulted at key moments, allowing Youzhny to
convert two break points.